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THE SERPENT MOUND 

ADAMS COUNTY, OHIO. 



MYSTERY OF THE MOUND AND 
HISTORY OF THE SERPENT. 



VARIOUS THEORIES OF THE EFFIGY MOUNDS 
AND THE MOUND BUILDERS. 



■'"'^ BY 

E. O. RANDALL, ll. M., 

Secretary Ohio St-.te Arch^eologic.., and Historical Society 
Reporter Ohio Supreme Court. 



^ PUBLISHED BY 

COLUMBUS, OHIO. 



C 14- 






OFFICERS OF THE OHIO STATE ARCHAEO- 
LOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 



ELECTED BY THE TRUSTEES, JUNE 2, I905. 

Gen. Roeliff Brinkerhoff President 

Mr. Geo. F. Bareis First Vice President 

Prof. G. F. Wright Second Vice President 

Mr. E. O. Randall Secretary and Editor 

Hon. S. S. Rickly Treasurer 

Mr. Edwin F. Wood Assistant Treasurer 

Prof. C. W. Mills Curator and Librarian 



TRUSTEES 
ELECTED BY THE SOCIETY. 



terms expire in 1906. 

J. Warren Keifer Springfield 

Bishop B. W. Arnett Wilherforce 

Hon. S. S. Rickly Columbus 

Mr. G. F. Bareis Canal Winchester 

Judge Rush R. Sloane Sandusky 

(3) 



4 OFFICERS. 

TERMS EXPIRE IN I907. 

Gen. R. Brinkerhoff Mansfield 

Hon. M. D. Follett Marietta 

Hon. D. J. Ryan Columbus 

Rev. H. a. Thompson Dayton 

Mr. W. H. Hunter Chillicothe 

terms expire in 1908. 

Prof. G. Fred Wright Oberlin 

Col. James Kilbourne Columhiis 

Hon. R. E. Hills Delazvare 

Prof. C. L. Martzolff New Lexington 

Judge J. H. Anderson Columbus 



APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNOR. 



terms expire as indicated. 

Rev. N. B. C. Love, Toledo, 1906. 
Col. J. W. Harper, Cincinnati, 1906. 
Hon. M. S. Greenough, Cleveland, 1907. 
Prof. M. R. Andrews, Marietta, 1907. 
Prof. B. F. Prince, Springfield, 1908. 
Mr, E, 0. Ranpall, Columbus^ 1908. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



Tlie monograph herewith produced coneerniug 
the Serpent Mound nmis prepared — we use the word 
^^prepared'' as it will be evident to the reader that it 
lias been largely written by other authorities — at 
the re(pu^st of the Trustees of the Ohio State Archae- 
ological and Historical Society in the attempt to meet 
the demand of the hundreds of visitors from every 
section of the country, indeed from all parts of the 
world, to the Serpent Mound. The effort has been 
made not merely to give a description, indeed several 
descripticais, of Serpent Mound, but also to set forth a 
summary of the literature concerning the worship of 
the serpent. In this latter subject copious excerpts 
from the leading authorities have been given because 
the books upon that subject are rare and mostly in- 
accessible to the general reader. It is hoped that this 
little volume, while it may not solve the problem of 
the origin and purpose of the Serpent Mound, will at 
least add to its interest and give the reader such infor- 
mation as it is possible to obtain. E. O, K. 

Columbus, October, 1905. 



(5) 



SERPENT MOUND. 



Among all the monuments, curious, vast and in- 
explicable left by the Mound Builders the Serpent 
Mound is the most mysterious and awe-inspiring. It 
is located in Bratton Township, northern part of 
Adams County. The country there presents a region 
of hill, dale, plain and stream of harmonious variety 
and most pleasing beauty. In the upper part of this 
county there rises a picturesque and meandering 
little river known as Brush Creek. This creek is 
created by the confluence of tributary streams, the 
chief ones being called the East Fork, the Middle 
Fork and the West Fork ; the East and West Forks, 
flowing from the directions indicated in their names, 
unite a short distance north of the mound ; the Mid- 
dle Fork originates in Highland County and flowing 
south empties into the East Fork just above its junc- 
ture with the West Fork ; the meeting of these three 
prongs of the river fork that forms Brush Creek can 
be easily seen from the Mound Bluff. Along the east 
side of Brush Creek, which flows directly south into 
the Ohio, beginning almost imperceptibly a mile or 

(7) 



8 



The Serpent Mound. 



more below the East and West Fork junction and 
running parallel with the creek is a hill}^ elevation 
of land, the summit of which forms a long stretch of 
plateau. This table plain, its sloping sides rising 
higher and higher, suddenly terminates at its north- 
ern end in a sharp, jutting bluff with an almost per- 




TPIE GREAT SERPENT, 



pendicular cliff wall, averaging a hundred feet liigb 
on the west, where it overhangs Brush Creek, Avhose 
waters wash its base. This bluff' surmounts on the 
north and for a slight distance on the east, a steep, 
deep ravine, forming the bed of a rivulet which for 
want of a definite name we designate Small Eun. The 
north and east banks of Small Run recede gradually 



The Serpent Mound. 9 

to a height much lower than the elevated peak just 
described, so that the narroAv neck or ridge spur, thus 
carved out of the hill side, towers boldly and abruptly, 
in full view, from the deep level below. The bluff is 
crowned with immense protruding rocks that like a 
brow of rugged furrows frown defiantly at the pretty 
hills, peacefully skirting the horizon far beyond the 
intervening plain. Upon the crest of this high ridge 
lies in graceful and gigantic undulations the Great 
Serpent. The high summit upon which the serpent 
appears to Avind his way, is crescent shaped, its con- 
cave side being on the west, against the Brush Creek 
valley; this table top is moreover highest at its south- 
eastern section, where it starts from the plateau or 
broad hill summit, whence it pitches gently down- 
ward to its western edge and its projecting north 
end. This tipped surface enabled his creators and 
promoters to so place the Avonderful serpent upon a 
shelving bed that he would easily be seen in all his 
majestic length and snake splendor from far and near 
on the plains below. For exhibition purposes no 
finer opportunity from a natural combination of 
features, could have been found in the Ohio valley 
and perhaps not in the Mississippi basin. Here was 
a superb inclined stage, elevated before a spacious 
hill-surrounded pit, miles in circumference and afford- 



10 The Serpent Mound. 

ing ample accommodations for audiences of untold 
numbers. The serpent, beginning with his tip end, 
starts in a triple coil of the tail on the most marked 
elevation of the ridge and extends along down the 
lowering crest in beautiful folds, curving gracefully 
to right and left and swerving deftly over a depression 
in the center of his path and winding in easy and 
natural convolutions down the narrowing ledge with 
head and neck stretched out serpent-like and pointed 
to tlie west; the head is apparently turned upon its 
right side with the great mouth wide open, the ex- 
tremities of the jaws, the upper or northern lying one 
being the longer, united by a concave bank immedi- 
ately in front of which is a large oval or egg-shaped 
hollow eighty-six feet long and and thirty feet wide 
at its greatest inside transverse, formed by the arti- 
ficial embankment from two to three feet high and 
about twenty feet wide at its base. The oval is there- 
fore one hundred and twenty feet long, outside meas- 
urement, and sixty feet in its greatest width. The 
head of the serpent across the point of union of the 
jaws is thirty feet wide, the jaAvs and connecting 
crescent five feet high. The entire length of the ser- 
pent, following the convolutions, is thirteen hundred 
and thirty-five feet. Its width at the largest portion 
of the body is twenty feet. At the tail the width is 



the Serpent Mound. 



11 




Sketch map of 
SeRPGNT MOUNP PARK. 

ADAMS COUNTY, OHIO^, 



VICINITY OF THE SERPENT MOUND. 




(12) 



The Serpent Mound, 13 

no more than four or ^ye feet. Here the height is 
from three to four feet^ which increases towards the 
center of the body to a height of five to six feet. The 
air line distance from the north side oval and head to 
the southern coil of the tail is about five hundred feet. 
The total length of the entire work, if extended in full 
length, from west end of the oval to the tip of the 
tail, is fourteen hundred and fifteen feet. Such is the 
size of the enormous earthen reptile as it has lain, 
basking in the suns or shivering in the snows of many 
centuries. The effect the sight of it produces, from 
close inspection or distant view, can scarcely be imag- 
ined or described. Prof. P. W. Putnam of the Pea- 
body Museum and to whom is due the credit of the 
restoration and preservation of the mound, says in 
the account of his first visit : "The graceful curves 
throughout the whole length of this singular effigy 
give it a strange life-like appearance; as if a huge 
serpent, slowl}^ uncoiling itself and creeping silently 
and stealthily along the crest of the hill, was about to 
seize the oval within its extended jaws. Late in the 
afternoon, when the lights and shades are brought 
out in strong relief, the effect is indeed strange and 
weird; and this effect is heightened still more when 
the full moon lights up the scene and the stillness is 
broken by the ^whoo-whoo, hoo-hoo' of the unseen bird 



14 The Serpent Mound. 

of night. Reclining on one of the huge folds of this 
gigantic serpent, as the last rays of the sun gleaming 
from the distant hilltops, cast their long shadows 
over the valley, I mused on the probabilities of the 
past ; and there seemed to come to me a picture as of 
a distant time, of a people with strange customs, and 
with it came the demand for an interpretation of this 
mystery. The unknown must become known." 

Prof. W. H. Holmes, of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, was equally impressed with the mystery of this 
curious creature of singular art. Mr. Holmes states: 
"The topography of the outer end of this promontory 
is somewhat peculiar. The extreme point is about 
thirty feet bej^ond the end of the artificial embank- 
ment, and is slightly cleft in the middle. The right 
hand portion has no exposure of rock and descends in 
a narrow rounded spur. The left hand is a naked 
shelf of rock a little to the left of the direct continu- 
ation of the earth work, and some ten feet below its 
terminal point. It is rounded at the margin and per- 
haps twenty-five feet wide. The vertical outline is 
curved and presents a number of connecting ledges 
marking the thickness of the finer strata. The en- 
tire exposure of rock at this point is perhaps forty 
feet in height. Beneath this a talus (supporting 
slope) extends to the creek bottom. From this point, 



The Serpent Mound. 15 

the exposure of rock extends back along down the 
creek, descending slightl}^ and soon disappearing. 
From the bank of the creek one has a comprehensive 
view of the serpent ridge. Having the idea of a great 
serpent in mind, one is struck with the remarlaible 
contour of the bluff, and especially of the exposure 
of the rock, which readily assumes the appearance of 
the reptile lifting its front from the bed of the stream. 
The head is the point of the rock, the dark, lip-like 
edge is the muzzle, the light colored under side is 
the white neck, the caves are the eyes, and the project- 
ing masses to the right are the protruding coils of 
the body. The varying effects of light must greatly 
increase the vividness of the impression and nothing 
would be more natural than that the Sylvan pro^Dhet 
should at once regard the promontory as a great 
Manito, (or spiritual being.) His people could be led 
to regard it as such, and this would result in the 
elaboration of the forms of the reptile, that it might 
be more real. The natural and the artificial features 
must all have been related to one and the same con- 
ception. The point of naked rock was probably at 
first and always recognized as the head of both the 
natural and artificial body. It was to the Indian the 
real head of the great serpent Manito." 



16 The Serpent Mound. 

Concerning the curious construction of the face 
of the cliff upon which the Serpent Mound is erected, 
Prof. Josua Lindahl, Secretary and Curator of the 
Cincinnati Society of Natural History, has an inter- 
esting theory, which he put forth a year or two ago 
in a public address based upon his own observations 
of the Serpent Mound. Dr. Lindahl says : 

"The Construction of this work by some early 
human race was preceded, by some thousand of years, 
by the sculpturing of the precipice, by natural agen- 
cies, into a grotesque face. Prof. Holmes describes 
this face as reptilian ; to me it appeared more remind- 
ing of a human face. At all events, it is a face of so 
striking appearance, that it must necessarily have 
aroused the wonder of the aborigines when the}^ first 
came there — and that face must have first suggested 
to those people the idea of building the mound. 

"The face was made by the same forces which 
excavated, at the close of the glacial period, the river 
valley on one side, and the ravine on the other side of 
the rock spur, on the top of which, in much later time, 
the mound was built. The strata of rock vary greatly 
in hardness, from compact limestone and soft shale to 
clay which will be easily washed away hy rain where 
exposed. A little below the top is a stratum very 
much harder than those nearest above and below and^ 



The Serpent Mound. 17 

having resisted atmospheric action better than the 
others, it projects beyond them. This stratum forms 
the nose of the face. A few feet lower down is the 
chiny still harder than any of the other strata, hence 
projecting much more. Between this "chin" and the 
"nose" are a few feet of mostly moderately hard lime- 
stone, but among them is a thin layer (an inch or two) 
of clay which is always washed out near the surface, 
leaving an opening at the extreme edge of the rock, 
suggesting a month. Below the "chin" all strata are 
soft and have been considerably eroded. The face is 
formed from the ten to fifteen uppermost strata of the 
one hundred feet high spur. The "nose" consists o*f a 
stratum containing many big and small nodules, one 
of which forms a bump on the nose. Some of these 
nodules have dropped out, leaving empty gills. I saw 
one such pit (oval) big enough to make room for a 
watermelon at the other side, facing Brush Creek. 

"What would be more natural for ignorant sav- 
ages than to think that this face was carved by the 
Great Spirit, their Great Manitou, as a warning to 
them that the spot was sacred? And what would 
then be more natural than that these people sliould 
use that spur of land for sacred rites and adorn it ap- 
propriately. There was the face. On the top of it 
they put an oval, the skull, now almost effaced, and 

2 



18 The Serpent Mound. 

back of this the body and tail of the reptile which to 
them was a symbol of the Great Manitoii. That skull 
I saw plainly. It is not raised like the parts restored 
by Putnam; but the grass has a different shade of 
green (indicating a different soil) on a spot with a 
sharply defined outline and perfectly symmetrical 
form, extending from near the edge of the precipice, 
where the soil has been washed away, and continued 
backward by two symmetrical curves, corresponding 
to the curves of the so-called ''jaw" of the snake, to 
which they, no doubt, were joined originally." 

CONSTRUCTION OF THE SERPENT MOUND. 

The most scientific and satisfactory examination 
of the structure of this serpent was made by Prof. 
Putnam, who carefully excavated sections of the ser- 
pent and made explorations in the adjacent ground 
and the nearby mounds. We quote from the inter- 
esting report of the professor : 

"This portion of the hill was either leveled off to 
the clay before the oval work was made, or there was 
no black soil upon the hill at that time, as none was 
used in the construction of the embankment, nor left 
below it. The same is true of the serpent itself. 
Careful examination of several sections made through 
the oval and the serpent, as well as laying bare the 



The Serpent Mound, 



19 



edge along both sides of the embankments throughout, 
have shown that both parts of this earthwork were 
both outlined upon a smooth surface along the ridge 



)^w^ 




H— 



SERPENT MOUND AND CLIFF. 



of the hill. In some places, particularly at the west- 
ern end of the oval, and where the serpent approached 
the steeper portions of the hill, the base was made 
with stones, as if to prevent it being washed away by 



20 The Serpent Mound. 

heavy rains. In other places clay, often mixed with 
ashes, was used in making these outlines; and it is 
evident that the whole structure was most carefully 
planned, and thoroughly built of lasting material. 
The geological formation of the hill shows first the 
ledge rock, upon which rests the decayed grayish rock 
forming the so-called marl of the region, the upper 
portion of which has by decomposition become a gray- 
ish clay. Over this lies the yellow clay of the region, 
filling in all irregularities, and varying in thickness 
from one to six feet. Upon this rests the dark soil of 
recent formation, from five inches to nearly two feet 
in thickness in different parts of the park. It is nec- 
essary to have this formation constantly in mind, as 
we must, to a certain extent, rely upon it in determin- 
ing the antiquity of the works and burial-places. 
Upon removing the sod within the oval the dark soil in 
the central portion Avas found to be nearly a foot 
in depth, Avhere it must have formed after the oval 
work Avas built. How many centuries are required 
for the formation of a foot of vegetable mold we do 
not know ; but here on the hard gray clay forming the 
floor of the oval, was about the same depth of soil as 
on the level ground near the tail of the serpent, 
where it has been forming ever since vegetation began 
to grow upon the spot. The same results were ob- 



The Serpent Mound, 21 

tained on removing the soil from the triangular space 
between the serpent's jaws ; and that there was about 
the same amount of soil on the embankment is shown 
by the fact that the several i)lo wings had not dis- 
turbed the underlj'ing clay of which the embank- 
ments were constructed. The accompanying section 
through the western end of the oval illustrates this 
point." 

PROF. PUTNAM'S EXPLORATIONS. 

The investigations of Professors Putnam, Holmes, 
Moorehead and others prove conclusively that the pla- 
teau immediately south of the serpent was the dwell- 
ing place of the prehistoric man. Burials, burnt 
places, ash beds and similar evidences marked the 
sites of cemeteries or villages. In the graves about 
the unearthed hearths, or here and there in the 
ground, were found thousands of chips and flakes of 
flint, rough pieces of jasper, quartz and other rocks; 
burnished implements ; chisel-shaped and sharp-edged 
knives, spear j)oints, arrow heads; chipped drills and 
perforators; ornaments and implements made of 
bones of animals and birds; pieces of rude pottery 
and fragments of cooking and other utensils; bones 
of fish, turtles, birds and remains of various animals 
used for food. All these articles showed bevond 



22 The Serpent Mound. 

question there had here been settlements of the an- 
cient people. There was evidence of dwellings and 
burials of different times. Tavo or three small 
mounds were found near the head of the serpent. On 
the plateau level just south of the serpent were ample 
evidences of very ancient habitations and burials. 
There were here several small mounds and one, the 
most conspicuous of all, just south of the park road, 
was a conical-shaped mound nine feet high and sev- 
enty feet in diameter. This is the mound upon which 
the granite monument now stands. This mound 
was opened and found to have been erected undoubt- 
edly as the monument to some important man, buried 
amid the unusual ceremonies and form of interment. 
As this was the most interesting and important burial 
discovered in the vicinity of the serpent and is typical 
of the many unusual interments of the Mound Build- 
ers, we give in full the report of the exhumation by 
Professor Putnam : ^^Pirst an area sevent}^ by sev- 
enty-one feet in diameter was cleared of all the dark 
soil, and the clay was also removed for several inches 
in depth, making a clear level floor. Eleven feet 
northwest of the center a trench was dug, 14 inches 
deep, 2 feet wide, and 5 feet long, and filled with loose 
cla}^, in which were a few small stones and several 
broken bones of animals. On the south side from 6 



The Serpent Mound. 



23 



to 11 feet fiom the center and from 1 to 5 feet apart 
were four small holes in the clay and 14 inches south- 
east of the center was another. Each contained 
stones or a few animal bones or ashes. On the north 
side from 2 to 6 feet from the center Avere four more 
of these holes in which were small stones and animal 
bones. These holes varied from a few inches to over 
a foot in depth and from 2 feet to nearly 7 feet in 



50D > 

..:..^*0 ARK SOIL 




^.?^?^l^- 



YELLOW CLAY 






'GRAY CLAY OR 

:.-;: DECOnP05E0R0U 



TRANSVERSE SECTIONS OF THE GREAT SERPENT. 



diameter. Their position and the fact that they each 
contained something intentionally placed in them 
shows the}^ were made for a purpose. It was evi- 
dent from their character that they Avere not places 
where i)osts had stood forming a part of a wooden 
structure. OAcr this cleared area and of course coa^- 
e-ring all these holes and the trench, clay Avas placed, 
forming a level platform 18 inches high. In the cen- 
tral portion of this platform, covering a space 30 by 



24 The Serpent Mound. 

35 feet in diameter, a fire had been kindled and kept 
burning until a bed of ashes a few inches in thickness 
was made, to which may have been added ashes 
brought from other places, perhaps in great part 
from the burnt area extending for nearly 100 feet 
north of the mound. In this ash bed were found 
many small bits of pottery, pieces of burnt bone and 
many stone chips; several broken stone implements 
and about a dozen perfect ones; also pieces of the 
shells of fresh water clams ; all of which is suggestive 
of scrajjing up ashes from various hearths and depos- 
iting all upon the heap. That a large part of the 
ashes were made on the spot was evident from the 
burnt clay below and from the several continuous 
masses of charcoal, the remains of logs from 2 to 4 
inches in diameter. When this ceremony was fin- 
ished and enough ashes for the desired purpose had 
been obtained the body of an adult man, nearly 6 feet 
tall, was placed, with the head to the east, at full 
length upon the hot ashes, and at once covered with 
clay, smothering the still smoldering logs and chang- 
ing the embers to charcoal. Objects of a lasting 
nature do not seem to have been placed with the body 
unless some of the chipped flint points found near it 
in the ashes may be so considered. It may be asked 
if this was not an unsuccessful case of cremation; 



The Serpent Mound. 25 

but I think that question may be answered in the nega- 
tive; for while cremation was often practiced as I 
have found on other occasions, it was by different 
methods, and the ashes and calcined bones were after- 
wards gathered up for burial, or buried in a i^eculiar 
manner of the place of burning. This skeleton was 
that of a well-developed man of ordinary size. The 
skull was crushed b}- the weight of the earth above. 
After the immediate covering of the body Avith clay, 
the mound was raised, a symmetrical conical heap of 
clay to the height of 10 or 12 feet. Some time subse- 
quent to the building of the mound and after the 
clay had settled into a compact mass, graves were dug 
upon its sides and top and nine burials had taken 
place. Some of the intrusive graves Avere so near the 
surface that in plowing over tlie mound the bones had 
been disturbed, while others were much deeper. One 
skeleton Avas found on the eastern side of the mound 
a«id four feet from the exterior at a greater depth 
from the top of the mound another skeleton Avas 
found. These skeletons Avcre extended in different di- 
rections. Woodchucks had made their burroAvs in 
one part of the mound and luid thrown out portions 
of a skull and other parts of a skeleton among the 
bones of AAiiich the woodchucks had made their nest. 
The bones in most of these graves, especially Avhen 



26 The Serpent Mound. 

near the surface of the mound, were much decayed 
and only fragments of the skeleton coukl be traced. 
In one instance only was anything found with the 
skeleton, and that was a fine stone hatchet resting 
with its edge outward on the bones of the left fore- 
arm, as if the handle had been placed along the arm 
and held in the hand. In the exploration of this 
mound many stone implements were found, princi- 
pally near the bottom on a level with the ash bed. 
Among the objects of special interest found in or near 
the ash bed of the first burial were a hemisphere of 
hematite, a plummet-shaped instrument, a small 
hatchet, and several perfect points chipped from 
flint, also two finely finished and polished stone axes, 
with straight backs and grooves around them for hold- 
ing the ribs by which they were fastened, to handles. 
There was also found jiear the edge of the ashes of 
this burial a plate of copper 9^ inches long and 3^ 
inches wide and | to nearly ] of an inch thick, un- 
questionally hammered out of native copper." 

Several hundred feet southwest of the monument 
mound Avas a small mound which upon exploration 
was found to contain, according to Professor Putnam, 
the first burials which had an anticpiity as great as 
that of the serpent itself and "we have every reason 
to believe that the bodies buried at this spot were of 



The Serpent Mound. 27 

the people who worshiped at the serpent shrine/' 
Professor Putnam thus describes the contents of this 
mound : ''On the chij of the knoll a number of large 
stones had been placed and over these had been raised 
a small mound, oblong in shape, and probably not 
over two or three feet high. In leveling the mound 
and plowing over the spot many of these stones had 
been turned out and thrown down the hill ; but a few 
still remained near which we started a preliminary 
trench. About a foot below the natural surface of 
the clay we found other stones, irregularly placed 
over an area about 7 feet long east and west and 4 
feet wide north and south, resting upon a bed of ashes 
nearly a foot thick; and under this ash bed were three 
more irregular groups Avhich proved to be graves, one 
under the eastern corner of the ash bed, one under 
the southeastern, and one under the northwestern 
portion. In each of these graves were the remains of 
human skeletons, lying in the clay and covered with 
ashes containing considerable charcoal; and here 
again below these graves, were half a dozen boulders, 
from one to two feet in diameter, and around them 
the edges of other stones, some of which were rounded 
boulders and others pieces of ledge rock about 4 inches 
thick and a foot or two long, which marked another 
grave 7 feet long and 2 feet wide. Here, too, were 



28 The Serpent Mound. 

found the remains of a skeleton, resting upon flat 
stones. This grave, of course, contained the first 
burial of the four that had taken place at this spot, 
and was made two feet below the bottom of the upper- 
most layer of stone covering all the graves. The great 
weight from above had crushed the skull and other 
portions of the skeleton, and the fragments were 
firmly imbedded in the hard, yellow clay which had 
silted into the grave, mixed with ashes which had been 
thrown over the body. This mass had become so hard 
and compact that it seemed more like taking fossils 
from a plain rock than human bones from a grave. 
The clay immediately^ under the bottom stone was 
filled Avitli bog iron, which had been deposited by 
water percolating among the stone, and the iron had 
also penetrated the bones. Several rude fiint imple- 
ments and flint flakes were found in the grave. The 
fragments of bone in all the graves show that all 
four skeletons were those of fully grown persons and 
probably all men. With the knowledge obtained 
from the exploration of thousand of graves, under 
many and varied conditions of burial, in various parts 
of the country, during nearl}^ a quarter of a centurj^ of 
active field work, I am able to state that all tlie con- 
ditions relating to these graves are confirmatory of 



The Serpent Mound. 29 

their great antiquity; indeed, I have seldom found 
more . conclusive comparative evidence of antiquity 
of graves than in those now under consideration." 

Professor Putnam, corroborated by other schol- 
arly and trustworthy authorities, establishes the great 
age of these burials and deep sunken hearth sites or 
fire places by their relative placement in the strata 
of the various clays and the subsequent coverings of 
other soils and vegetation deposits and la^^ers, the 
formation of which must have been nature, the slow 
work of nature requiring centuries of time to thus 
cast its coverings over the artificial work of ancient 
man. 

That the Mound Builders' works are very ancient 
is proven in nmny ways. By the testimony of the 
primitive articles and implements found in the 
mounds and graves; by the testimony of the creeks 
and rivers in the^ changes of their courses since the 
mounds were built and by the great trees that have 
grown upon these mounds, some of them being six 
hundred years old and probably second or third 
growths, scholars conclude these great works are at 
least hundreds of years old and perhaps many thou- 
sands. It is plausibly guessed that these people be- 
longed to the Stone Age, for their implements are 



so The Serpent Mound. 

almost entirely of that material. They had not 
learned the value and use of iron or other metal 
articles. 

The antiquity of the Mound Builder is further 
determined by the objects unearthed and the evi- 
dent result upon them of chemical and geological 
forces of nature. Professor Putnam, in the Cen- 
tury Magazine for April 1890, from which we 
have copiously quoted, has described with great 
clearness and detail the result of his investigations 
at Serpent Mound. His careful, scientific and un- 
imaginative conclusions seem to clearly demonstrate 
that the Serpent Mound Avas the work of most ancient 
people, populous, energetic, prompted by religious 
motives and given to ceremonies of great exactness 
and elaboration. But still the real purpose of the 
serpent is no nearer solution than before; "the un- 
known must become known," the Professor exclaimed. 
But the knowledge still lies buried, deeper than any 
prehistoric man, in the very depths of the unknown. 
The great serpent still holds within his coils the secret 
of his existence as silent and impenetrable as the mid- 
night hush of his solitary abode on the mountain side 
far above the plains and valleys. It is most interest- 
ing and indeed in many respects informing, if not alto- 
gether satisfactory, and certainly not conclusive, to 



The l^erpent Mound. 31 

consider the theories concerning the purpose and sig- 
nificance of the Great Serpent Mound. It is unques- 
tionably to be classed with what are known as 

EFFIGY MOUNDS. 

The subject of effig}^ mounds presents a separate, 
distinct and unique study for the archaeologist. The 
efQ.gj mounds appear more or less numerously in vari- 
ous parts of the mound-building country, the Miss- 
issippi valley. They are found in many of the south- 
ern states; many appear in Illinois, but Wisconsin 
seems to have been their peculiar field. Hundreds of 
them were discovered in that state and were examined 
and described in official reports for the Smithsonian 
Institute. In Wisconsin they represent innumerable 
animal forms ; the moose, buffalo, bear, fox, deer, frog, 
eagle, hawk, panther, elephant, and various fishes, 
birds and even men and women. In a few instances, 
a snake. In Wisconsin the effigies were usually situ- 
ated on high ridges along the rivers or on the elevated 
shores of the lake. Very few effigy mounds have been 
found in Ohio — though it is by far the richest field in 
other forms of mounds. 

The most notable Ohio effigies, if indeed not the 
only ones, are the so-called Eagle Mound at Newark, 
the Alligator or Opossum Mound at Granville and 



32 The Serpent Mound, 

the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County. This 
latter is the largest and one of the most distinctly de- 
fined effigy mounds in the United States and perhaps 
in the world. The purpose and significance of these 
efflgy mounds have thus far baffled explanation. This 
theme can only be treated by anology. As we learn 
from the publications of Dr. Stephen D Peet, editor 
of the American Antiquarian, one of the chief theories 
is, that these animal mounds were emblematic of vari- 
ous tribes or families of the Mound Builders, as the 
totem among the Indians was the token or symbol of 
a family or clan. This totem was usually an animal 
or natural object selected for reverence and super- 
stitious regard. It also among the Indians served 
as a sort of surname of the family. The turtle, the 
bear and the wolf were, for example, favored and hon- 
ored totems. Even among modern civilized nations 
this idea is perpetuated, with less significance, of 
course, as the adoption by popular use of the Eagle as 
the emblem of the United States, the Lion by Eng- 
land, the Bear by Russia, etc. With the Indians this 
emblem or totem w^ould be represented often in crude 
wooden images. Adopting this idea, it has been held 
that the effigy mounds represented the animal em- 
blems or totems of racial divisions and that perhaps 
these mounds were erected either at the village site of 



The Serpent Mound. 33 

the family it represented or possibly the burial place, 
it being in the latter case a sort of representative 
monument to designate the family or tribe the mem- 
bers of which were buried about or in tlie vicinity of 
the monument totem. 

Another theory is that these mound effigies were 
objects of religious significance, perhai)s the mound it- 
self being an object of worship or designating the 
place as a temple where ceremonies were performed in 
honor of the animal or to the spirits which it repre- 
sented. Much literature has been written upon this 
subject into whicli we are not permitted to go with 
any very great detail. 

It is possible that an emblematic system prevailed 
among the Mound Builders and that instead of this 
system being portra^'ed on the Avooden structures, as 
with the Indians and the Eskimo, the totems were 
built into the soil and made expressive of the names 
or clans or gentes resident in the different places 
thus marked or designated. 

LOCATION OF EFFIGY MOUNDS. 

The selection of the location of these monuments 
may have been a mixed one. Perhaps because of ac- 
cessibility to the neighboring clan ; perhaps from the 
prominence, of the site and perhaps of the peculiar 

3 



34 The Serpent Mound. 

form of the site. The choice of location would some- 
times indicate that even if animal worship was the 
prime motive, it was in conjunction with nature wor- 
ship, to which most savage peoples were given. The 
nature of the location, its surroundings, scenery, etc., 
evidently were features in this matter. As one au- 
thor points out, many primitive peoples were given to 
what is known as scenery worship. The Chinese are 
cited as an example of this. They had a peculiar 
superstition wliich in English was called geomancy; 
the idea being that the scenery is haunted Avith cer- 
tain spirits which are spirits of nature. In other 
words, that there are certain occult influences which 
prevail over earth, air, water, but particularly the 
hills and the streams. These influences come into 
connection with human destiny by gliding along the 
summits of hills into groves or over the tall trees or 
through the medium of any object in the landscape. 

The conformation of the effigies, as evidenced in 
many cases, to the shape of the ground is further sug- 
gestive of animal worship. So strong was this tend- 
ency in aboriginal peoples, to couple the scenes of na- 
ture with animal divinities, that it led to "the trans- 
formation of the formation of the earth by the aid of 
art into shapes which would represent the animal di- 
vinities to the eye." This transformed ground indi* 



The Serpent Mound. 35 

cates it is claimed that there was prevalent among the 
builders a primitive animism or belief that a personal 
life or soul abides in inanimate objects and in the phe- 
nomena of nature. There are*many places where the 
effigies apparently conform to the shape of the ground, 
so that the natural and artificial are hardly dis- 
tinguishable, botli combining to represent the animal 
figure. The suggestion of the particular shape which 
??hould be given to tlie effigy would perhaps come from 
the natural contour of the ground, but the embodi- 
ments of the shape would be completed by the work of 
art. This appears to have been true of many of the 
effigy mounds in AVisconsin, according to Dr. Peet, 
who says on this subject : 

''We have seen that the emblematic mounds con- 
tain figures of the animal divinities which this mys- 
terious people Avorshipped, and that they picture be- 
fore us the superstitious and religious conceptions 
which ruled, but there is that in the locations of the 
mounds which convinces us that their divinities were 
closely associated with the natural features of the 
earth and that they thus became remarkable ex- 
ponents of nature worship. The most eloquent and 
expressive thing of all is that these emblematic shapes 
everywhere haunt us with their presence. The 
streams and lakes, hills and valleys, woods and prai- 



36 The Serpent Mound. 

ries, are overshadowed b^^ their images. It seems 
strange that the people should have formed such con- 
ceptions, but especially strange that they should have 
impressed their conceptions upon the works of nature. 
The animals were divinities to them, but the animal 
effigies were placed most conspicuously upon the face 
of the earth and made to figure as symbols of these 
divinities. There was in these effigies the union of the 
three elements — the conspicuous location, the animal 
semblance and the supernatural power. It was this 
singular superstition which seized upon the most 
prominent points of land and there placed the figures 
of their animal divinities and made them preside over 
the scene by a supernatural power. It is impossible 
to go from group to group of these strange effigies and 
see how closely they are associated with the natural 
features without realizing that there was a religious 
conception which exalted them to a level of a super- 
natural presence." 

NATURE OR ANIMAL WORSHIP. 

In other words, savage peoples were given to two 
forms of nature worship ; (1) that of nature itself, the 
hills, trees, rocks, streams, the scenery, and natural 
phenomena as fire, lightning, thunder, rain, etc., be- 
lieving all these things were animated by spirits that 



The Serpent Mound. 37 

could be propitiated by worship; (2) the worship of 
the symbols of these, as the wooden totems or earthen 
constructed eflfigies of animals. As these mound effi- 
gies often appear to have been placed on sites natur- 
ally, in form, suggesting the animal in question, or 
on ground molded or transformed to suggest the ani- 
mal, it is thought that these effigies so located and the 
site selected for them present a double purpose or two- 
fold religious motive, viz., nature worship direct and 
symbolic worship. The Great Serpent seems to sin- 
gularly answer to this ''double play'' in superstitious 
nature worship, the natural mound itself suggesting 
a great serpent, as so distinguished a scholar as Prof. 
Holmes has clearly pointed out. Students of an- 
thropology, ethnology and archaeology seem to agree 
that among the earliest of religious beliefs is that of 
animism or nature worship. Next to this in the ris- 
ing scale is animal worship and following it is sun 
worship. Animism is the religion of the savage and 
wilder races, who are generally wanderers. Animal 
worship is more peculiarly the religion of the sedent- 
ary tribes and is incident to a condition where agri- 
culture and permanent village life appear. Sun wor- 
ship is the religion of the village tribes and is pecu- 
liar to the stage which borders upon the civilized. It 
is a religion which belongs to the status of barbarism, 



38 The Serpent Mound, 

but often passes over into the civilized state. "Now 
judging from the circumstances and signs," says Dr, 
Peet, "we should say that the emblematic Mound 
Builders were in a transition state between the condi- 
tions of savagery and barbarism and that they had 
reached the point where animal worship is very prev- 
alent. This habit of fixing upon the scenes of nature 
and then transforming them into animal divinities is 
evidence in our opinion that the old superstition that 
nature was possessed by a spirit had given way to the 
idea that animals were the objects of worship and weie 
haunted by divinities, Avas, however, still retained and 
there is no doubt that many of the effigies which sur- 
mount the hill tops perpetuated their local traditions 
and were demonstrative of these traditions to the 
peoples which inhabited the region. The question of 
idolatr}^ arises at this point whether the emblematic 
Mound Builders erected their effigies as idols and re- 
garded them as objects of worship or whether they 
were simply symbolical, merely suggestive of spiritual 
forces or religious emotions. There are to be sure many 
localities where effigies are arranged so as to form a 
sacred enclosure, and there are evidences that in these 
enclosures religious rites were practiced; but it has 
not yet appeared that the effigies were themselves thus 
isolated and made objects of worship. This is an in- 



The Serpent Mound. 39 

teresting point. The location of the effigies some- 
times gives the idea that a superstitious awe was felt 
towards them, as if they were divinities presiding over 
the scene, but it also shows that the effigies were de- 
voted to familiar and practical uses, the divinity serv- 
ing both as a guardian divinity and as a watch-tower 
or lookout for the people. It is to be observed that 
the cases are rare where an effigy is isolated and kept 
at a distance, as if it were too sacred for approach. 
This custom of erecting single effigies on isolated hill- 
tops, where they could be seen, but owing to the dis- 
tance and isolation could not be approached, was, as 
we may say, common in other parts of the country. It 
appears that the two effigy mounds found in Ohio, 
namely, the serpent and the alligator, were thus situ- 
ated. The alligator mound was erected on a high hill, 
and overlooked the whole valley where are the works 
which have been noted as the most extensive and com- 
plicated of any in the country, namely, those at New- 
ark. The location of this effigy — (alligator) — at the 
head of the valley, on so prominent a hilltop, would 
indicate that it was regarded with superstitious feel- 
ing, and it may have been considered as a guardian 
divinity for the whole region. It is possible that it 
perpetuated some tradition which prevailed in the lo- 
cality, and the hilltop and the effigy were associated 



40 



The Serpent Mound. 



together, because of the tradition. The erection of 
the altar near the effigy would indicate also that it 
was a place where offerings were made, and would 
suggest that the sacrifice had become f(n'mal, and pos- 
sibly was conducted by a priestliood, rather than in 



f^^M^ 




Licktn(j County, Ohio. 



the hands of individuals as voluntary. We cannot 
say that this was true of the Great Serpent ; and yet 
the oval mound in front of the serpent effigy would 
indicate that this also was used as a place of sacrifice, 
and that here was a locality which tradition had fixed 
upon as a place where some divinity had dwelt. We 



The Serpent Mound. 41 

suggest also in reference to this serpent mound, that 
possibly the very trend of the hill and of the valleys, 
and the streams on either side of it, may have given 
rise to the tradition. The isolation of the spot is re- 
markable. The two streams which here separate the 
tongue of land from the adjoining country unite just 
below the cliff, and form an extensive open valley, 
which lays the country open for many miles, so that 
the cliff on which the effigy is found can be seen to a 
great distance. The location of this effigy is peculiar. 
It is in the midst of a rough, wild region, which at the 
present is difficult to approach, and according to all 
accounts is noted for its inaccessibility. 

"The shape of the cliff would easily suggest the 
idea of a massive serpent, and this with the inacces- 
sibility of the spot would produce a i3eculiar feeling 
of awe, as if it were a great Manitou which resided 
there, and so a sentiment of wonder and worship 
would gather around the locality. This would natur- 
ally give rise to a tradition or would lead the people 
to revive some familiar tradition and localize it. This 
having been done, the next step would be to erect an 
QfAgy on the summit which should both satisfy the 
superstition and represent the tradition. It would 
then become a place where the form of the serpent di- 
vinity was plainly seen, and where the worship of the 



42 The Serpent Mound. 

serpent, if it can be called worship, would be prac- 
ticed. Along with this serpent worship, however, 
there was probabh^ the formality of a priestly religion, 
the rites of sacrifice having been instituted here and 
the spot made sacred to them. It was generally "sac- 
rificing in a high place." The fires which were 
lighted would be seen for a great distance down the 
valley and would cast a glare over the whole region, 
producing a feeling of awe in the people who dwelt 
in the vicinity. The shadows of the cliff would be 
thrown over the valley, but the massive form of the 
serpent would be brought out in bold relief; the tra- 
dition would be remembered and superstition would 
be aroused, and the whole scene would be full of 
strange and aweful associations." 

SERPENT WORSHIP. 

The various authors who have treated of this ser- 
pent mound have maintained that the tradition which 
found its embodiment here was the old Brahmanic 
tradition of the serpent and the egg. 

Mr. S. G. Squier connects the effigy with the 
serpent worship which is so extensive in different 
parts of the world, and Schoolcraft has expressed the 
opinion that it was a sign of the Hindoo myth, and 



The Serpent Mound. 4S 

Gven Drake in his new volume on Indian tribes sug- 
gests the same. 

"The superstition about the serpent is next to be 
considered. Here we come in contact with a very 
remarkable coincidence. The serpent effigy is found 
in Ohio, in Wisconsin and in Dakota, three places 
where the tribes of the Dakotas are supposed to have 
been located. There is the peculiarit}^ about all of 
these, thej are conformed to the shape of the land on 
which they are situated, the natural and artificial 
shape both giving the idea that the serpent divinity 
haunted the spot. Whether this is a conception 
which is peculiar to the Dakotas or not, it is a very 
remarkable coincidence that these effigies should ap- 
pear in the places where the Dakotas have lived, and 
only in those places. There is another point to this 
matter. Dr. J. W. Phene discovered a ridge in Great 
Britain which had the serpent shape and along the 
ridge were placed a line of stones which represented 
the spine of the serpent. In digging into the hill a 
cist or altar was found near where the heart of the 
serpent would be. There are those who think that 
the Dakotas migrated from the east, and that they 
came into the continent from the northeast and were 
originally from Great Britain, Scandinavia or other 
northern parts of Europe. Here we have a singular 



44 The Serpent Mound. 

and novel confirmation of the theory. The Great 
Serpent in Adams County has an altar in the very 
center of the body* and the shai3e of the serpent cor- 
responds to the shape of the ridge, the effigy having 
been placed upon the ridge because of its resemblance 
to the serpent. We claim priority in the discovery 
of this fact. We have only to imagine the fire lighted 
upon the altar on the top of the ridge, shooting its 
gleam up to the sky, casting fitful shadows over the 
valley below, and filling the whole scene with its mys- 
terious glare, to realize how terribly the minds of the 
superstitious people would be impressed. The fire 
can be seen for several miles. The erection of an ef- 
figy of an immense serpent a thousand or twelve hun- 
dred feet long on this spot was in accord with the 
^superstitions of the ijeople. It was not strange that 
they should recognize the resemblance, for they seem 
to have been given to serpent Avorship, but the repeti- 
tion of the i^ractice of erecting serpent effigies in this 
way is remarkable. We do not know how they re- 
ceived this cult. The original home of the serpent 
worship is supposed to have been in India and yet it 
is spread from India to Great Britain and appears 

* Dr. Peet seems to be in error about an altar being in the 
center of the body. There is no evidence of such nor does any- 
other archaeologist so claim so far as we can learn. 



The Hcrpcilt Mound. 45 

wherever the Indo-European race has trodden. Its 
introduction into this country may have been from 
Europe, via Icehmd, Labrador and the northeast 
coast. The coincidences are so striking that we are 
inclined to say that it was a borrowed cult, yet there 
are those who maintain that it was indigenous to 
America." Dr. Peet, in his volume on '^Emblematic 
Mounds and Animal Effigies/' concludes that the effi- 
gy Mound Builders were the Dakotas or some branch 
of that Indian tribe or family. He bases his theory 
on the following: 

"The facts which we have in mind, and which 
seem so to confirm our theory are as follows : 1. The 
migration of the Dakotas and the location of the effigy 
mounds correspond remarkably on the general map, 
the migrations have reached the several points where 
the effigies have been discovered. 2. The pictorial 
representations Avhich are supposed to have belonged 
to the Dakotas and which are still found upon the 
rocks which are in the tracks of these migrations, have 
striking resemblances to the effigy mounds in their 
varied shapes. 3. The map of Wisconsin, the state 
in which the effigies are the most numerous, gives us 
some remarkable suggestions as to the reasons for the 
locating of the effigy-builders in the state, there being 
a striking correspondence between the topography of 



46 The Serpent Mound. 

the state and the different classes of mounds which 
are there found. 4. The map of each locality where 
effigies are found has some very important lessons as 
to the reasons for these particular effigies, as the lo- 
cation of the effigies reveals the very haunts of the 
animals, as well as their habits. 5. The last point is 
that which relates to the clans, the specific location of 
each clan being ascertained by an examination of a 
map of the mounds." 

Dr. Peet then proceeds to present his authorities 
for the migrations of the Dakotas ; their various loca- 
tions and corresponding remains of effigy mounds, 
picture adorned rocks, etc. Confirmatory of this the- 
ory he cites the Indian dances* in which there is a 
combination of human and animal motions, dances 
frequently conducted in such a way as to imitate the 
motions of animals." He also thinks that the effigy 

* It is a well known fact that many modern tribes of Indians 
indulged in "Snake Dances" in some of which live snakes "took 
part." The snakes even of a poisonous nature would be secured 
and placed within the dance ring and even be handled and fondled 
in the dance much after the description of the serpent ceremonies 
of the ancient oriental peoples. The writer saw one of these 
snake dances enacted by Western Indians at the Louisiana Pur- 
chase Exposition. Could it have been the hereditary custom 
handed down through innumerable generations from a prehistoric 
serpent worshipping race? 



The Serpent Mound. 47 

mound was representative of or suggested by the ani- 
mal or bird most prevalent in the locality in question. 
Describing the effigy mounds of Wisconsin, he says : 
"As to the correspondence between the clan emblems 
and the animals which were the most abundant in the 
locality, a few words should be said. This cor- 
respondence has been noticed in several places. To 
illustrate: The turtle is the clan emblem at Beloit. 
Turtles are very common there, so common that 
Turtle Creek and Turtle Township are named after 
them. The same is true in Eagle Township. The 
name, the prevailing effigy and topography would 
show that it is a place where eagles formerly 
abounded. At Big Bend and West Bend there is the 
same correspondence, the region having been favor- 
able for the panther in one place and the wolf in the 
other, both being in the midst of heavy forests. This 
would at first seem to work against the position that 
the effigies were clan emblems ; but as we further con- 
sider it, we might ask why the particular emblems 
should be used rather than others. The prairie 
chicken, the duck, the wild goose, are just as common 
as the turtle, panther and wolf, but they never are 
made the prevailing emblem. At least they never 
exclude other figures. We have a hint here as to the 
origin of the clan names. It would seem as if the 



\ 

V 



48 Tlw iScrpent Mound. 

habitat had been named, as well as the clan, and that 
the clans had been named after they had reached their 
permanent location, and that the other animals of 
the locality had given the name and emblem, the same 
custom prevailing- in prehistoric times which is com- 
mon in historic." 

Dr. Peet, however, declares that the effigy mounds 
in Wisconsin and Ohio are prehistoric. If that 
be so, and it is almost universally admitted by 
archaeologists, they were built either by a race 
that preceded the Indians and had no relation 
to them or by a race remotely ancestral to the 
historic Indians. In either event would any knowl- 
edge we have of the migrations of the Dakotas 
or their kindred be conclusive evidence in this 
strange subject? We think not. Many students of 
the Mound Builders and of the Indians maintain that 
the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County is the 
product of Indian tribes who subsequently went west. 
Catlin, the celebrated Indian painter and student, 
who lived many years among the Indians, maintained 
as Dr. Peet states, ''that the Mandans, who were a 
branch of the Dakotas, originally located in Ohio, the 
very region in which the Great Serpent is found, but 
that they migrated from that region, passing down 
the Ohio river and up the Missouri^, and that they be- 



// 



The l^crpent Mound. 49 

came nearly extinct by the time they reached the 
head-waters of the Missouri. He has given a map 
with the route of the migration hiid down on it, and 
the various stopping places designated." 

WHO WERE THE MOUND BUILDERS? 

A study of the literature put forth by the various 
archaeologists, more or less scholarly as the case may 
be, reveals of course no agreement among them as to 
the origin or race of the Mound Builders. Some main- 
tain they are a branch of the Indian race, that they 
were the identical Indians Ave know or have knoAvn 
in histor}^, the post-Columbian Indians; that they 
were Indians, but a generation or generations of the 
Indians that passed out of existence before, the In- 
dians we know anything about came upon the scene 
of action ; L e., they Avere the ancestors more or less re- 
mote of the historic Indians; it is claimed in this con- 
nection that they were the descendants of the Mexi- 
can or South American Indians, perhaps of the Tol- 
tecs or Aztecs; again that they Avere the ancestors of 
the Mexican or South American Indians; again that 
they were the descendants or successors of earlier In- 
dians aaIio earlier or originally inhabited the great 
NorthAvest, having come perhaps from some Oriental 
race across Behring Strait ; again it is maintained the 



v\ 



50 The Serpent Mound. 

Mound Builders were a race entirely distinct and sep- 
arate from the Indian race, having no relation remote 
or near to the people we call the American Indian. 
Dr. Peet's theory that the effigy Mound Builders were 
Dakota Indians or in some way related to theui is only 
one phase of the various Indian theories. On this 
subject we may properly here insert the opinion of 
Prof. W. J. McGee, of the Bureau of Ethnology, 
Smithsonian Institution : 

"The Serpent INIound is prehistoric. We do not 
know just how old it is, but we may judge that it is 
not more than 1,000 years old, nor less than 350 
years. It was built, presumably, by the Indians who 
occupied that region at the time when it was first dis- 
covered by the whites. The white pioneers found the 
presumptive descendants of the builders of the Ser- 
pent Mound still in possession of the territory on 
which this mighty monument to their ancestors' re- 
ligious faith had been erected. 

"Of the important place which religion held in the 
lives of these people we may judge from the mighty 
monuments they left behind them as memorials of 
their faith. ^luch of their time was occupied by a 
series of elaborate ceremonials, celebrated annually, 
in the course of which they danced, feasted and busied 
themselves with the building of mounds. Quite fre- 



/ / 

The Serpent Mound. ^1 

quently these iiioimds were gigantic effigies of ani- 
mals, and in this fashion they represented the bear, 
wolf, otter, eagle, crow and other animal "totems" or 
tutelaries of the class and tribes ; the largest of all is 
the Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio, which is 
about 1,000 feet long. 

"These Q^^^y mounds do not seem to have been 
built for burial purposes. In the Serpent Mound noth- 
ing worth mentioning has ever been found. The 
mounds are purely symbolic. The snake was sacred, 
an object of veneration or worship; so, likewise, were 
the other animals represented. Savages commonly at- 
tribute to wild beasts special potencies, associating 
them with the supernatural, and extend toward them 
a kind of worship. 

"It is probable that the building of the Serpent 
Mound extended OA^er a number of years, and that the 
work was taken up annuall}^, on the occasion of a cer- 
tain festival. Thus it underwent a i)rogressive en- 
largement and extension through a considerable 
period, the plan growing as the structure developed. 
Judging from the observed habits of Indians, the 
method of construction Avas simple, women bringing 
the earth in baskets on the backs, and the men man- 
aging and superintending the task. Incidentally 
there were feasting and dancing; it was all part of a 



52 The Serpent Mound. 

ceremonial corresponding in character to ilie '^Gree 
Corn Dance'' of the modern Iroquois or the '^Dog- 
Feast'' of various Algonquin tribes." — Thus McGee. 

MANY SERPENT MOUNDS. 

Certain it is that the serpent was a well nigli 
common symbol or object with the Mound Builders. 
The snake effigy, as has already been noted, is found 
in various localities of the mound building territory. 
They exist in Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin 
and Dakota. In Dakota a large stone serpent was 
constructed, ''on a ridge which resembles a great ser- 
pent. It is a ridge which overlooks the prairie on all 
sides. The stones of which the serpent is composed 
brings out the resemblance, the two stones at the head 
of the serpent being very expressive.'' In Wisconsin 
serpent effigies existed at Mayville, at Green Lake, at 
Madison, at Potosi, near Burlington and elsewhere. 
According to Dr. Peet, each one of them corresponds 
to the shape of the ground on which it was placed, the 
natural and the artificial being always associated.* 



* A most extensive and scholarly examination of the prehis- 
toric mounds of Wisconsin was made by Mr. I. A. Lapham on 
behalf of the American Antiquarian Society. The results of his 
explorations were published in 1855 by the Smithsonian Institution, 
Washington, D. C. Mr. Lapham describes and illustrates in his 



The So'pent Mound. 53 

"The two serpents near Potosi, Wisconsin, are situ- 
ated upon a ridge which in its shape is suggestive. 
Here the two serpents correspond with the shape of 
the cliff, every band of the cliff being followed by the 
ef^gy and the line which constitutes the summit being 
transformed by artificial means into the shape of ser- 
pents. It 'is quite wonderful, for the resemblance is 
so close that one is left in uncertainty after he has vis- 
ited the locality whether he has not been deceived." 
x4l serpent effigy examined by Dr. Peet in Adams Coun- 
ty, Illinois, also answers to the usual conformity of 
the site. 

"The serpent effigy discovered by the author a few 
miles from his home in Adams County, Illinois, is 
also conformed to the tortuous shape of the cliff. 
This effigy is in a very conspicuous place. It over- 
looks the bottom lands of the ^Mississippi River for 
many miles. The effigy itself is a striking object. 



work very many of tlie effigy mounds, which seem to have been 
almost innumerable in Wisconsin, the lizard appearing to have 
been the predominating and favorite figure. He does not seem 
to have identified any genuine serpents. He found many appa- 
rent artificial mounds, so constructed as to represent the snake, 
but most of these he proved upon examination to have been natural 
geological formations, some of them wonderfully resembling arti- 
ficial structures. 



54 The Serpent Mound. 

The head of the serpent rests on the south end of the 
biuff. The bend of the neck follows- the line of the 
bluff for 600 feet. The roll of the body extends 300 
feet further, but is brought out more fully by four 
high conical mounds. The effigy then follows the line 
of the bluff for 600 feet or more, the rattles of the 
snake being plainly visible at the northern extremity 
of the bluff.'' 

In connection with nearly every one of these ser- 
pent mounds, evidences, more or less clear and well 
preserved, exists of altar mounds, sometimes con- 
structed of earth, more often of stones. This is un- 
doubtedly true of the Great Serpent. In the center 
of the oval, in front of the serpent's mouth, v\ as found 
a pile of large stones, blackened with the effect of fire. 
Prof. Putnam speaks of it as follows : "Near the cen- 
ter of the enclosed area (the oval) is a small mound of 
stones, which was formerly much larger, since it was 
thrown down over fifty years ago by digging under it 
in search of supposed hidden treasure, the popular 
belief which has caused the destruction of many an 
ancient cairn. ]Many of the stones show signs of fire 
and under the cliff' are similar burnt stones which 
were probably taken from the mound years ago." 

From this hasty and fragmentary summary of 
the statements concerning the existence of the seriYent 



The Serpent Mound . 55 

among the eflfigy mounds we may not accept as proven 
any of the many theories concerning their origin or 
their purpose, but Ave seem justified in tlie conclusion 
that these serpent mounds were built with reference 
to the religious life and the beliefs or superstitions of 
the Mound Buiklers. The Mound Builders of the 
Mississippi Valley were serpent worshippers. The 
Ohio serpent is the greatest, most accurate and dis- 
tinctively representative and now the most perfectly 
preserved of all the snake mounds. When it was 
built will doubth'ss always be a matter of conjecture 
and dispute ; certainly it existed centuries ago. This 
we may safely decide from the evidence deducted from 
the explorations of the serpent itself and the sur- 
rounding mounds and village sites by the most dis- 
tinguished archaeologist of our day. 

ENGLISH AUTHORITIES. 

Dr. Daniel Wilson, a most learned English au- 
thority on archaeology and author of "Prehistoric 
Man,'- (an extensive work in two volumes, published 
in London, 1875) thus speaks of the Serpent Mound : 
"The Great Serpent of Adams County, Ohio, occupies 
the extreme point of a crescent-formed spur of land 
formed at the juncture of two tributary streams of the 
Ohio. This elevated site has been cut to a conformity 



56 The Serpent Mound. 

with an oval circumvallation on its summit, leaving a 
smooth external platform ten feet wide, with an incli- 
nation towards the embankment on every side. Imme- 
diately^ outside the inner point of this oval is the ser- 
pent's head, with distended jaws, as if in the act of 
swallowing what, in comparison with its huge dimen- 
sions, is spoken of as an egg, though it measures 160 
feet in length. Conforming to the summit of the hill, 
the body of the serpent winds back, in graceful undu- 
lation, terminating with a triple coil at the tail. The 
figure is boldlj^ defined, the earth-wrought relievo be- 
ing upwards of five feet in height by thirty feet in base 
at center of the body; and the entire length, follow- 
ing its convolutions, cannot measure less than a thou- 
sand feet. This singular monument stands alone, 
and though classed here with the symbolic animal 
mounds of Wisconsin, it has no anologue among the 
numerous basso-relievos wrought on the broad prairie- 
lands of that region. It is indeed altogether unique 
among the earthworks of the New World and without 
a parallel in the Old; though it has not unnaturally 
furnished the starting point for a host of specula- 
tions relative to serpent worship." 

Prof. James Fergusson, another famous English 
authority in archaeology, in his volume on ^'Rude 
Stone Monuments in All Countries," published in 



Tlie Serpent Mound, 57 

London, 1872, when speaking of the animal mounds 
in America, thus disposes of the Serpent in Ohio: 

'^One of these, our authors (alluding to Squier and 
Davis) have no doubt, represents a serpent 700 feet 
long as he lies with his tail curled up into a spiral 
form, and his mouth gaping to swallow an egg (?) 
160 feet long by (30 feet across. This at first sight 
looks so like one of Stukeley's monstrous inventions 
that the first impulse is to reject it as an illusion on 
the part of the surveyors. AAHien, hoAvever, we bear 
in mind that the American Mound Builders did repre- 
sent not only men, but animals, quadrupeds, and liz- 
ards, in the same manner, and on the same relative 
scale, all improbability vanishes. At the same time, 
the simple fact that the form is so easily recognizable 
here is in itself sufficient to prove that our straight- 
lined stone rows were not erected with any such in- 
tention, and could only be converted into Dracontia 
by the most perverted imagination. 

"Though therefore we may assume that this 
mound really represents a serpent, it by no means fol- 
lows that it was an idol or was worshipped. It 
seems to represent an action — the swallowing of 
something, but whether a globe or a grave is by no 
m^ans clear, and must be left for further investiga- 
tion. It is however, onlv bv taking it in connection 



58 The Serpent Mound, 

with the other animal mounds in America that we 
can hope to arrive at a solution. They were not ap- 
parently objects of worship, and seem to have no con- 
nection with anything found in the Old World. 

"The other mounds representing quadrupeds are 
quite unmistakable; they are a freak of this people 
whoever they were. But is seems difficult to ex- 
plain why they should take this Brobdignagian way 
of representing the animals they possessed, or were 
surrounded by. If we knew more of the people, or 
of their affinities, perhaps the solution would be easy ; 
at present it hardly interests us, as we have no ana- 
logue in Europe.'' 

It will be interesting to note what is further said 
by so distinguished a scholar as Professor Fergusson, 
on the subject of the possible relation between the 
Mound Builders of America and the prehistoric peo- 
ple of the Old World ; Prof. Fergusson continues : "It 
only now remains to tr^^ and ascertain if any connec- 
tion exists or existed between these American monu- 
ments and those of the Old World; and what light, 
if any, their examination may be expected to throw in 
the problems discussed in the preceding clmpters. If 
it is wished to establish anything like a direct con- 
nection between the two continents, we must go back 
to the far distant prehistoric times when the con- 



The ^Serpent Mound. 59 

formations of land and water were different from 
what tliey now are. No one, I presume, will be found 
to contend that, since the continents took their pres- 
ent shape, any migration across the Atlantic took 
place in such numbers as to populate the land, or to 
influence the manners or customs of the people pre- 
viously existing there. It may be that the Scandi- 
navians did penetrate in the tenth or eleventh cen- 
turies to Yinland, by the way of Greenland, and so 
anticipated the discovery of Columbus hj some cen- 
turies ; but this is only a part of that world-pervading 
energy of the Aryan races, and has nothing whatever 
to do with the people of the tumuli. If any connec- 
tion really existed between the Old and New World, 
in anything like historic times, everything would lead 
us to believe that it took place via Behring Strait or 
the Aleutian Islands. It seems reasonable to sup- 
pose that the people who covered the Siberian Steppes 
with tumuli may have migrated across the calm 
waters of the Upper Pacific and gradually extended 
themselves down to Wisconsin and Ohio, and there 
left these memorials we now find. It may also be 
admitted that the same Asiatic people may have 
spread westward from the original hive, and been the 
progenitors of those who covered our plains with bar- 
rowS; but beyond this no connection seems to be trace- 



60 The Srepent Mound. 

able which would account for anything we find. No- 
where, however, in America do these people seem to 
have risen to the elevation of using even rude stones 
to adorn their tombs or temples. Nor do they appear 
to have been acquainted with the use of iron or of 
bronze; all the tools found in their tombs being of 
pure unalloyed native copper — both of which circum- 
stances seems to separate these American Mound 
Builders entirely from our rude-stone people in any- 
thing like historic times. Unfortunately, also, the 
study of the manners and customs of the Red-man, 
who occupied North America when vre first came in 
contact with them, is not at all likely to throw any 
light on the subject. They have never risen beyond 
the condition of hunters, and have no settled places 
of abode, and possess no works of art. The Mound 
Builders, on the contrary, were a settled people, cer- 
tainly pastoral, probably to some extent even agri- 
cultural; they had fixed well chosen, unfortified 
abodes, altogether exhibiting a higher state of civili- 
zation than we have any reason to suppose the pres- 
ent race of Ked-men ever reached or are cajjable of 
reaching. Although, therefore, it seems in vain to 
look on the Ked Indians, who in modern times occu- 
pied the territories of Ohio and Wisconsin as the 
descendants of tlie ^lound Builders, there are tribes 



The Her pent Mound. 61 

on the west coast of America that probably are, or 
rather were, very closely allied to them." 

SQUIER AND DAVIS' ACCOUNT. 

Many x\merican archaeologists, perhaps the ma- 
jority of the more distinguished ones, hold to the be- 
lief that the Mound Builders were the ancestors, how 
remote may not be known, of the historic or post- 
Columbian Indians. But a discussion of the relation- 
ship between the Mound Builders and the Indians is 
other than has been already set forth in these pages, 
beyond the purpose of this pamphlet concerning Ser~ 
pent Mound. It was first discovered — within the 
knowledge of the present generation — by Squier and 
Davis, who surveyed and examined it in 1845, during 
their valuable explorations of the various mounds of 
Ohio. In their volume reporting the explorations of 
the "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," 
which constitutes the first volume of the contribution 
to knowledge by the Smithsonian Institution, they de- 
scribe Serpent Mound as folloAVS : 

/ "Probably the most extraordinary earthwork 
thus far discovered at the west, is the Great Serpent, 
of which a faithful delineation is given in the accom- 
panying plan. It is situated on Brush Creek, at a 
point known as the "Three Forks," on Entry 1014, 




SQUIER AND DAVIS S FIGURE OF THE SERPENT MOUND. 



The Serpent Mound. 63 

near the north line of Adams County, Ohio. No plan 
or description has hitherto been published; nor does 
the fact of its existence appear to have been known 
beyond the secluded vicinity in which it occurs. The 
notice first received hj the authors of these researches 
was exceedingly vague and indefinite, and led to the 
conclusion that it was a work of defence, with bas- 
tions at regular intervals, a feature so extraordinary 
as to induce a visit, which resulted in the discovery 
here presented. The true character of the work was 
apparent on the first inspection. 

'^It is situated upon a high, crescent-form hill or 
spur of land, rising one hundred and fifty feet above 
the level of Brush Creek, which washes its base. The 
side of the hill next the stream presents a perpendicu- 
lar wall or rock, while the other slopes rapidly, 
though it is not so steep as to preclude cultivation. 
The top of the hill is not level but slightly convex, 
and presents a very even surface, one hundred and 
fifty feet wide by one thousand long, measuring from 
its extremity to the point where it connects with the 
table land. Conforming to the curve of the hill, and 
occupying its very summit, is the serpent, its head 
resting near the point, and its body winding back for 
seven hundred feet, in graceful undulations, terminat- 
ing in a triple coil at the tail. The entire length, if 



64 The Serpent Mound. • 

extended would not be less than one thousand feet. 
The accompanying plan, laid down from accurate sur- 
vey, can alone give an adequate conception of the 
outline of the work, which is clearly and boldly de- 
fined, the embankment being upward of five feet in 
height by thirty feet base, at the centre of the body, 
but diminishing somewhat towards the head and tail. 
The neck of the serpent is stretched out slightly 
curved, and its mouth is opened wide as if in the act 
of swallowing or ejecting an oval figure which rests 
partially' within the distended jaws. The oval is 
formed by an embankment of earth, without any per- 
ceptible opening, four feet in height, and is perfectly 
regular in outline, its transverse and conjugate diam- 
eters being one hundred and sixty and eight feet re- 
spectively. The ground within the oval is slightly 
elevated. A small circular elevation of small stones 
much burned once existed in its centre ; but they have 
been thrown down and scattered by some ignorant vis- 
itor, under the prevailing impression probably that 
gold was hidden beneath them. The point of the hill, 
within which this egg-shaped figure rests, seems to 
have been artificially cut to conform to its outline, 
leaving a smooth platform, ten feet wide, and some- 
what inclining inwards, all around it. 



The Serpent Mound. 65 

Upon either side of the serpent's hea'd extend two 
small triangular elevations, ten or twelve feet over. 
They are not high, and although too distinct to be 
overlooked, are yet too much obliterated to be satis- 
factorily traced. Besides a platform, or level oval ter- 
race, and a large mound in the centre of the isth- 
mus connecting the hill with the table land beyond, 
there are no other remains, excepting a few mounds, 
within six or eight miles, — none, perhaps, nearer 
than the entrenched hill in Highland Tounty, thir- 
teen miles distant. There are a number of works 
lower down on Brush Creek, towards its mouth ; but 
their character is not known. The point on which 
this effigy occurs commands an extensive prospect, 
overlooking the 'bottoms' found at the junction of the 
three principal tributaries of the creek. The alluvial 
terraces are here quite extensive, and it is a umtter 
of surprise that no works occur upon them. 

"The serpent, separate or in combination with the 
circle, egg or globe, has been a predominant symbol 
among many primitive nations. It prevailed in 
Egypt, Greece, and Assyria, and entered widely into 
the superstitions of the Celts, the Hindoos, and the 
Chinese. It even penetrated into America ; and was 
conspicuous in the mythology of the ancient Mexi- 
cans, among whom its significance does not seem to 

5 



6G The Serpent Mound. 

have differed materially from that which it possessed 
in the Old World. The fact that the ancient Celts, 
and perhaps other nations of the old continent, 
erected sacred structures in the form of the serpent, 
is one of high interest. Of this description was the 
great temple of Abury, in England, — in many re- 
spects the most imposing ancient monument of the 
British Islands. 

"It is impossible, in this connection, to trace the 
analogies which the Ohio structure exhibits to the 
serpent temples of England, or to point out the ex- 
tent to which the symbol was applied in America, — 
an investigation fraught Avith the greatest interest 
both in respect to the light which it reflects upon the 
primitive superstitions of remotely separated people, 
and especially upon the origin of the American race.'' 
— Thus Squier and Davis. 

SERPENT WORSHIP. 

And still, with all this scholarly research and 
thoughtful study by archaeologists the Great Serpent 
Mound holds its secret silent and sacred as the grave. 

Professor J. G. R. Forlong, of London, England, 
in a voluminous work of two octavo tomes entitled 
the "Elvers of Life; or Sources and Streams of the 



The Serpent Mound. (>T 

Paitli of Men in all Lands/' i^ublislied in London," 
1874, has made i)erliaps the most exhaustive ex- 
amination of the origin of various religions and 
forms of faith and worship ever made by one 
student. Prof. Forlong demonstrates that the ear- 
liest object of worship known to primitive man 
Avas the tree, the most beautiful form of nature, sym- 
bolical of the productive and living force of nature 
growing from mother earth in symmetrical and ever 
changing forms. The Tree worship was the first 
form of nature worship leading directly to the wor- 
ship of other objects of inanimate nature, the rocks, 
the bushes and even sticks and inert objects. Mr. 
Forlong says : 'The second great deity, and to us in 
this civilized and wholly changed state of existence, 
strange and ever-horrible deit}^, is one still most prom- 
inent — the a II gills in herba — or mysterious 'stranger 
in the grass,' who overcame Avith honey Avords the 
fabled mother of us all, and who to the astonished 
gaze of the primitiA^e race, OA^rcame by god-like 
poAA'er, man, as Avell as the strongest beast of the field. 
That as a mere reptile he Avas 'subtler,' as the story 
says, than every other creature, has not since ap- 
peared, but his subtle mode of approach, his daring 
and upright dash^ was pictured as god-like, and in 



G8 The Serpent Mound. 

nearly all eastern countries he is still not only feared 
but worshiped as ^the God of our Fathers/ and the 
symbol of desire and creative energy.'' 

CHARACTER OF THE SERPENT. 

The worship of the serpent was undoubtedly the 
first form and ever after, even to this day, the pre- 
dominating one in the religious rites bestowed upon 
animal life in general; the fear and reverence ac- 
corded animals primarily considered sacred or made 
so by graduallj^ regarding them as endowed with sup- 
ernatural powers finally embraced a great number of 
animal forms. But the "trail of the serpent" was 
over and above them all, in all races, all climes and all 
times. The serpent more than any other animate 
creature possesses properties of mystery and divinity. 
He moves "swift as a shadow" without hands, feet, 
wings or fins, on land or on water; without noise or 
warning; with the speed of an arroAV he strikes his 
foe and pierces him with his death-dealing fangs; or 
envelopes his enemy no matter how large or strong in 
his resistless embrace and crushes the breath of life 
from his victim or swallows whole his prey that is 
transfixed by his charm or unaware of his silent ap- 
proach; his colors are as variegated as the leaves of 
the forest; his movements graceful and weird; the 



The Serpent Mound. 69 

glow of his eye awful and enthralling; he assumes a 
variety of forms and figures ; sheds his skin and comes 
forth renewed and rejuvenated; he is long lived; en- 
larges his size and strength ; he is inspirited and fiery. 
Surely a creature with such anamalous powers was 
well calculated to arouse the awe, superstition, fear 
and reverence of the primitive ages. Says Forlong: 
''The serpent is the special Phallic symbol which veils 
the actual God, and therefore do we find him the con- 
stant early attendant upon Priapus or the Lingum, 
which I regard as the second religion of the world. 
It enters closely into union with all faiths to the pres- 
ent hour. We find him in the Yishnas, the Hindoos, 
and the tales of Vedic Avatars. He is God in 
eternity, the many coils of the snake representing in- 
finitiveness and eternity, especially so as represented 
by the Egyptians with tail in mouth. There is no 
mythology or ancient sculpture in which the serpent 
does not bear a part. The universality of serpent wor- 
ship has long been acknowledged by the learned. It is 
called Ophiolatry. It has been worshiped in the low- 
est strata of civilization. In Egypt we see the serpent 
under a multitude of symbols and connected with all 
sorts of worship; also in Ass^^ria and India. We meet 
him in the wilderness of Sinai, the groves of Epidau- 
raus, and in the Samothracian huts. In the case of 



70 The Serpent Mound. 

serpents the most wonderful legends and the few 
facts come down to use regarding their saliva, mode 
of coition, sperm, skin and egg. Pliny tells us in re- 
gard to the origin of the serpent egg that this is 
brought about by a bed or knot of snakes ; that an in- 
finite number entwine themselves together in the heat 
of summer, roll themselves into a mass, and from the 
saliva of their jaws and the froth of their bodies is 
generated an egg called anguinum and that by the vio- 
lent hissing of the serpents this egg is forced into the 
air. The egg, or its priestly imitation, has always 
been much prized and was once revered by Kelts as an 
object of Druidical worship. The Keltic story of the 
production of the anguinum is like that given by 
Pliny. The snakes were said to meet at Beltime, join 
mouths and hiss until a bubble was produced; other 
snakes then hissed on this and blew it in a ring over 
the body of a snake when it at once hardened." 

The worship of fire was third in the order of 
superstitious worship. Tree, serpent and fire worship 
existed in their origin in the order thus named, but in 
the early progress of man became contemporaneous 
worship. The sun worship was also one of the pri- 
mary forms and while following the three named 
above became likewise coincident and after its intro- 



The Her pent Mound . 71 

duction is found with many races closely connected 
with the serpent worship. 

BRYANT'S ''ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY." 

Perhaps the most accurate and authoritative 
work on the subject of serpent worship is the chapter 
on that topic by Jacob Bryant in his "x\nalysis of 
Antient Mythology/' in five volumes, published in 
London in the year 1807. Mr. Bryant on the subject 
of serpent worship and its origin has this to say: 
"Oph signifies a serpent, and was pronounced at times 
and expressed, Ope, Oupis, Opis, Ops ; and by Cicero, 
Upis. It was an emblem of the Sun; and also of 
time and eternity. It was Avorshipped as a diety, and 
esteemed the same as Osiris; b}^ others the same as 
Vulcan. X serpent was also, in the Egyptian lan- 
guage, styled Ob, or Aub; though it may possibly be 
only a variation of the term above. We are told by 
Orus Apollo, that the Basilisk, or royal serpent, was 
named Oubaios. The Diety, so denominated, was es- 
teemed prophetic ; and his temples were applied to as 
oracular. This idolatry is alluded to by Moses, who, 
in the name of God, forbids the Israelites ever to in- 
quire of those daemons, Ob and Ideone; which shows 
that it was of great antiquity. The symbolic worship 



72 The Serpent Mound. 

of the serpent was, in the first ages, very extensive; 
and was introduced into all the mysteries, Ayhereyer 
celebrated. It is remarked that Ayhereyer the Amo- 
nians founded any places of worship, and introduced 
their rites, there was generalh- some story of a ser- 
pent. There was a legend of a serpent at Colchis, at 
Thebes, and at Delphi ; likewise in other places. The 
Greeks called Apollo himself Python, which is the 
same as Opis, Oupis, and Oub. The woman at Endor, 
who had a familiar spirit, is called Oub, or Ob; and 
it is interpreted as Pythonissa. The place where she 
resided, seems to haye been named from the worship 
there instituted: for Endor is compounded of En- 
Ador, and signifies Pons Pythonis, the fountain of 
light, the oracle of the God Ador. This oracle was, 
probably, founded by the Canaanites; and had never 
been totally suppressed. In ancient times they had 
no image in their temples, but, in lieu of them, using 
conical stones or pillars, called haifulia, under which 
representation this Deit}^ was often v, orshipped. His 
pillar was also called Abaddir, Avhich should be ex- 
pressed Abadir, being a compound of Ab, and Adir; 
and means the serpent Deity, Addir, the same as 
Adorns. It Avas also compounded with On, a title of 
the same Deity; and Kircher says that Obion is still, 
among the i>e()ple of Egypt, the name of a serpent. 



The Serpent Mound. 73 

The same also occurs in the Coptic lexicon. The wor- 
ship of the serpent was very ancient among the 
Greeks, and is said to have been introduced by Ce- 
crops. But though some represent Opis as a distinct 
Deity ; yet others introduce the term rather as a title, 
and refer it to more Deities than one : Callimachus, 
who expresses it Oupis, confers it upon Diana, and 
plays upon the sacred term. * * * 

"It may seem extraordinary, that the worship of 
the serpent should have ever been introduced into the 
world ; and it must appear still more remarkable, that 
it should almost universally have prevailed. As man- 
kind are said to have been ruined through the influ- 
ence of this being, we could little expect that it would, 
of all other objects haA^e been adopted, as the most 
sacred and salutary symbol; and rendered the chief 
object of adoration. Yet so we find it to have been. 
In most of the ancient rites there is some allusion to 
the serpent. I have taken notice, that in the Orgies 
of Bacchus, the persons Avho partook of the ceremony 
used to carry serpents in their hands, and witli horrid 
screams called upon Eva, Eva. They Avere often 
crowned Avith serpents, and still made the same fran- 
tic exclamation. One part of the mysterious rites of 
Jupiter Sabazius AA^as to let a snake slip doAA'n the 
bosom of the person to be initiated, Avhich aa^s taken 



74 The Serpent Mound. 

out below. These ceremonies, and this symbolic wor- 
ship, began among the Magi, who were the sons of 
Chus : and by them they were propagated in various 
parts. Epiphanius thinks, that the invocation, Eva, 
Eva, related to the great mother of mankind, who was 
deceived by the serpent; and Clemens of Alexandria 
is of the same opinion. But I should think, that Eva 
was the same as Eph, Epha, Opha, Avhich the Greeks 
rendered, Ophis, and by it denoted a serpent. Clem- 
ens acknowledged, that the term Eva properly aspir- 
ated had such a significance. Olympias, the mother 
of Alexander, was very fond of these Orgies, in which 
the serpent was introduced. Plutarch mentions, that 
rites of this sort were practiced by the Edonian 
women near Mount Maemus in Thrace; and carried 
on to a degree of madness. Olympias copied them 
closely in all their frantic manoeuvres. She used to 
be followed with many attendants, who had each a 
thyrsus with serpents twined round it. They had 
also a snake in their hair, and in the chaplets, which 
they wore ; so that they made a most fearful appear- 
ance.* Their cries were very shocking : and the whole 



* Many readers will remember that a few years ago there 
swept over the country among the "four hundred" the fad of se- 
curing a tiny species of Hzard, brilhant colored of the chameleon 
variety, which the silly dames would attach by gold chains to their 



The Serpent Mound. 75 

was attended with a continual repetition of the words, 
Evoe, Saboe, Hues Attes, Attes Hues, which were 
titles of the God Dionusus. His priests were the Hy- 
ades, and Hyantes. He was likewise styled Evas. 

"In Egypt there was a serpent named Thermuthis, 
which was looked upon as very sacred; and the na- 
tives are said to have made use of it as a royal tiara, 
with which t\\ej ornamented the statues of Isis. We 
learn from Diodorus Siculus, that the kings of Egypt 
wore high bonnets, which terminated in a round ball; 
and the whole was surrounded with figures of asps. 
The priests likewise upon their bonnets had the repre- 
sentation of serpents. The ancients had a notion, 
that when Saturn devoured his own children, his wife 
Ops deceived him by substituting a large stone in 
lieu of one of his sons, which stone was called Abadir. 
But Ops, and Opis, represented here as a feminine, 
was the serpent Deity, and Abadir is the same person- 



bosoms. It was "quite the thing," you know, for these ultra 
fashionable ladies to wear these little captives, thus permitted 
to crawl about their necks and shoulders, not only at the swell 
dinners and high teas but even in public upon the street. A singular 
illustration, in view of the statement related above, that history 
repeats itself. These lizard-adorned women were simply reviving 
the fashion originally set by Mrs. Olympias, the mother of Alex- 
ander the Great. 



76 The Serpent Mound. 

age under a different denomination. Abadir seems to 
have been a variation of Ob-Adur, and signifies the 
serpent God Orus. One of these stones, which Saturn 
was supposed to have swallowed instead of a child, 
stood, according to Pausanias, at Delphi. It was es- 
teemed very sacred, and used to have libations of wine 
poured upon it daily; and upon festivals was other- 
wise honoured. The purport of the above history I 
imagine to have been this. It was for a long time a 
custom to offer children at the altar of Satan : but in 
process of time they removed it, and in its room 
erected a stone pillar; before which the^'^ made their 
vows, and offered sacrifices of another nature. This 
stone, which they thus substituted, was called Ab- 
Adar, from the Deity represented by it. The term 
Ab generally signifies a father : but, in this instance, 
it certainly relates to a serpent, which was indiffer- 
ently styled Ab, Aub, and Ob. I take Abadon, or, as 
it is mentioned in the Kevelations, Abaddon, to have 
been the name of the same Ophite God, with whose 
worship the world had been so long infected. He is 
termed hj the Evangelist, the angel of the bottomless 
pit; that is, the prince of darkness. In other place 
he is described as the dragon, that old serpent, which 
is the devil, and Satan. Hence I think, that the 
learned Heinsius is very right in the opinion, which 



The Serpent Mound. ■ 77 

he has given upon this passage; when he makes Abad- 
don the same as the serpent Pytho. 

"It is said that, in the ritual of Zoroaster, the 
great expanse of the heavens, and even nature itself, 
was described under the symbol of a serpent. The 
like was mentioned in the Octateuch of Ostanes ; and 
moreover, that in Persia and in other parts of the 
east they created temples to the serpent tribe, and 
held festivals to their honour, esteeming them, the 
supreme of all Gods, and the superintendents of the 
whole world. The worship began among the people of 
Chaldea. They built the city Opis upon the Tigris, 
and were greatly addicted to divination, and to the 
worship of the serpent. From Chaldea the worship 
passed into Egypt, where the serpent Deity was called 
Canoph, Can-Eph and C-neph. It had also the name 
of Ob, or Oub, and was the same as the Basiliscus, or 
Royal Serpent ; the same also as the Thermuthis ; and 
in like manner was made use of by way of ornament 
to the statues of their Gods. The chief Deity of 
Egypt is said to have been Vulcan, who was also 
styled Opas, as we learn from Cicero. He was the 
same as Osiris, the Sun; and hence was often called 
Ob-El, or Python Sol; and there were pillars sacred 
to him with curious hieroglyphical inscriptions, 
which had the same name. They were very lofty, and 



78 



The Serpent Mound, 



narrow in comparison of their length; hence among 
the Greeks, who copied from the Egyptians, every 
thing gradually tapering to a point was styled Obelos, 




SERPENT MOUND — CENTER CONVOLUTIONS. 



and Obeliscus. Ophel (Oph-El) was a name of the 
same purport; and I have shown, that many sacred 
mounds, or Tapha, were thus denominated from the 
serpent Deity, to whom they were sacred. 



The Serpent Mound. 79 

'^Sanclioniatlion makes mention of an liiston^, 
which he once wrote upon the worship of the serpent. 
The title of this worlv, according; to Eusebius was, 
Ethothion, or Ethothia. Another treatise upon the 
subject was written by Plierecydes t^vrus, which was 
probably a copy of the former ; for he is said to have 
composed it from some previous accounts of the Phe- 
nicians. The title of this book was the Theology of 
Ophion, styled Ophioneus; and of his worshippers, 
called Ophionidae. Thotli, and Atlioth, were certain- 
ly titles of the Deity in the Gentile word; and the 
book of Sanchoniathon might very possibly have been 
from hence named Ethothion, or more truly Atho- 
thion. But from the subject, upon which it was writ- 
ten, as well as from the treatise of Pherecydes, I 
should think, that Athothion, or Ethothion, was a 
mistake for Ath-ophion, a title which more immedi- 
ately related to that worship, of Avhich the writer 
treated. Ath Avas a sacred title, as I have shown ; and 
I imagine, that this dissertation did not barely re- 
late the serpentine Deity; but contained accounts of 
his votaries, the Ophitae, the principal of which were 
the sons of Chus. The worship of the serpent began 
among them ; and they were from thence denominated 
Ethopians, and Aithopians. It was a name, which 
they did not receive from their complexion, as has 



80 The Serpent Mound. 

been commonly surmised; for the branch of Phut, 
and the Lubim, were probably of a deeper die: but 
they were so called from Ath-Ope, and Ath Opis, the 
God which they Avorshipped. This may be proved by 
Pliny. He says that the country Aethiopia (and con- 
sequently the people) had the name Aethiop from a 
personage who was a Deity. The Aethiopes brought 
these rites into Greece : and called the island, where 
thej^ first establislied them, Ellopia, Soils Serpentis 
insula. It was the same as Euboea, a name of the 
like purport; in which island was a region named 
Aethiopium. Euboea is properly Oub-Aia; and sig- 
nifies the Serpent-Island. The same worship pre- 
vailed among the Hyperboreans, as we may judge 
from the names of the sacred women, who used to 
come annually to Delos. They were priestesses of 
the Tauric Goddess, and were denominated from her 
titles. Hercules was esteemed the chief God, the 
same as Chronus ; and was said to have produced the 
Mundane egg. He was represented in the Orphic 
Theology under the mixed symbol of a lion and a 
serpent ; and sometimes of a serpent only. I have be- 
fore mentioned that the Cuthites under the title of 
Heliadae settled at Rhodes : and, as they were Hivites 
or Orphites, that the island in consequence of it was 
of old named Ophiusa. There was likewise a tradi- 



The Serpent Mound. 8l 

tion, that it was once swarmed with serpents. The 
like notion prevailed almost in every place, where 
they settled. They came nnder the more general 
titles of Leleges and Pelasgi; but more particularly 
of Elopians, Europians, Oropians, Asopians, Inopi- 
ans, Ophionians, and Aethiopes, as appears from the 
names, which they bequeathed; and in most jdaces, 
where they resided, there were handed down tradi- 
tions, which alluded to their original title of Ophites. 
In Phrygia, and upon the Hellespont, whither they 
sent out colonies very early, was a people styled the 
serpent-breed ; who were said to retain an affinity and 
correspondence with serpents. And a notion pre- 
vailed, that some hero, who had conducted them, was 
changed from a serpent to a man. In Chilchis was a 
river Ophis; and there was another of the same name 
in Arcadia. It was so named from a body of people, 
who settled upon its banks, and were said to have 
been conducted by a serpent. These reptiles are sel- 
dom found in islands, yet Tenos, one of the Cyclades, 
was supposed to have once swarmed with them. Thu- 
cydides mentions a people of Aetolia called Ophioni- 
ans : and the people of Apollo at Patara in L^-cia seem 
to have had its first institution from a priestess of 
the same name. The island of C^^press was styled 
Ophiusa, and Ophiodes, from the serpents, with which 
6 



82 The tier pent Mound. 

it was supposed to have abounded. Of what species 
they were is nowhere mentioned ; excepting only that 
about Paphos there was said to have been a Ivind of 
serpent with two legs. By this is meant the Ophits 
race, who came from Egypt, and from Syria, and got 
footing in this island. They settled also in Crete, 
where they increased greatly in numbers; so that 
Minos was said by an unseemly allegory serpentes 
inlnxisse. The island of Seriphus was one vast rock, 
by the Eomans called saxum serphium ; and made use 
of as a larger kind of prison for banished persons. It 
is represented as having once abounded with serpents ; 
and it is styled by Virgil scrpentifera. It had this 
epithet not on account of any real serpents, but ac- 
cording to the Greeks from Medusa's head, which Avas 
brought hither by Perseus. By this is meant the ser- 
pent Deity, Avhose worship was here introduced by 
people called Peresians. Medusa's head denoted de- 
vine Avisdom : and the island was sacred to the ser- 
pent, as is apparent from its name. The Athenians 
were esteemed Serpentigenae ; and they had a tradi- 
tion, that the chief guardian of their Acropolis was 
a serpent. It is reported of the Goddess Ceres, that 
she placed a dragon for a guardian to her temple at 
Eleusis; and appointed anothei' to attend upon Erec- 
theus. Aegeus of Athens, according to Androtion, 



The Serpent Mound. 83 

was of tlie serpent breed : and the first king of the 
countiy is said to have been a Dragon. Others make 
Ceerops the first who reigned. He is said to have 
been of a twofold nature; being formed with the bod}^ 
of a man blended with that of a serpent. Diodorus 
says that this was a circumstance deemed by the 
Athenians inexplicable: yet he labours to explain it, 
by representing Ceerops, as half a man and half a 
brute; because he had been of two different communi- 
ties. Eustathius likewise tries to solve it nearly ux)on 
the same principles, and with the like success. Some 
had mentioned of Ceerops, that he underwent a meta- 
morphosis, that he was changed for a serpent to a 
man. By this was signified, according to Eustathius, 
that Ceerops, by coming into FJelles, divested himself 
of all the rudeness and barbarity of his country, and 
became more civilized and humane. This is too high 
a compliment to be i)aid to Greece in its infant state, 
and detracts greatly from the character of the Egyp- 
tians. The learned Marsham therefore animadverts 
with great justice. It is more probable, that he intro- 
duced into Greece, the urbanity of his own country, 
than that he was beholden to Greece for any thing 
from thence. In respect to the mixed character of 
this personage, we may, I think, easily account for 
it. Ceerops was certainly a title of the Deity, who was 



84 The Serpent Mound. 

worshipped iiDder this emblem. Something of the 
like nature was mentioned of Triptolemus, and Eric- 
thenius : and the like has been said above of Hercules. 
The natives of Thebes in Boeotia, like the Athenians 
above, esteem themselves of the serpent race. The 
Lacedaemonians likewise referred themselves to the 
same original. Their city is said of old to have 
swarmed with serpents. The same is said of the city 
of Amyclae in Italy, which was of Spartan original. 
They came hither in such abundance, that it was 
abandoned by the inhabitants. Argos was infested 
in the same manner, till Apis came from Egypt, and 
settled in that city. He was a prophet, the reputed 
son of Apollo, and a person of great skill and sagaci- 
ty. To him they attributed the blessing of having 
their country freed from this evil. Thus Argives 
gave the credit to this imaginery personage of clear- 
ing their land of this grievance: but the brood came 
from the very quarter from whence Apis was sup- 
posed to have arrived. They were certainly Hivites 
from Egypt : and the same story is told of that coun- 
try. It was represented as having been of old over- 
run with serpents; and almost depopulated through 
their numbers. Diodorus Siculus seems to under- 
stand this literally : but a region, which was annually 
overflowed, and that too for so long a season, could 



The K^^crpcnt Mound. 85 

not well be liable to such a calamity. Tliej wero 
serpents of another nature, with which it was thus 
infected : and the history relates to the Cnthites, the 
original Ophitae, who for a long time possessed that 
country. They passed from Egypt to Syria, and to 
the Euphrates : and mention is made of a particular 
breed of serpents upon that river, which were harm- 
less to the natives, but fatal to every body else. This, 
I think, cannot be understood literally. The wisdom 
of the serpent may be great ; but not sufficient to make 
this distinction. These serpents were of the same na- 
ture as the birds of Diomedes, and the dogs in tln^ 
temple of Vulcan : and these histories relate to Ophite 
priests, who used to spare their own people, and sac- 
rifice strangers, a custom which prevailed at one time 
in most parts of the world. I have mentioned that 
the Cuthite priests were very learned : and as they 
were Ophites, whoever had the advantage of their 
information, was said to have been instructed by ser- 
pents. Hence there was a tradition, that Melampus 
was rendered prophetic from a communication with 
Avith these animals. Something similar is said of 
Tiresias. 

''As the worship of the serpent was of old so 
I I'cvalent, mnny i)laces, as well as people from tlience, 
received their names. Those Avho settled in Cam- 



86 



The Serpent Mound. 



pania were called Opici; which some would have 
changed to Ophici; because they were denominated 
from serpents. But they are, in reality, both names 
of the same purport, and denote the origin of the peo- 




SERPENT MOUND — NEAR THE TAIL. 



pie. We meet with places called, Opis, Ophis, Oph,- 
taea, Ophionia, Ophioessa, Ophiodes, and Ophiusa. 
This last was an ancient name, by which, according to 
Stephanus, the islands of Ehodes, Cythnus, Besbicus, 



TJic Hci'iKiit Mound. 87 

Tenos, and the whole continent of Africa, were dis- 
tinguished. There were also cities so called. Add to 
these places deuoniinated Oboth, Obona, and reversed 
Onobo, from Ob, which was of the same purport. 
Clemens Alexandrinus says, that the term Eva sig- 
nified a serpent, if pronounced with a proper aspirate. 
We find that there were places of this name. There 
was a city Eva in Arcadia : and another in Macedo- 
nia. There Avas also a mountain Eva, or Evan, taken 
notice of by Pausanias, between which and Ithome 
lay the city Messen. He mentions also an Eva in Ar- 
golis, and speaks of it as a large town. Another name 
for a serpent, of wliich I have as yet taken no notice, 
w^as Patau, or Pitan. Many places in different parts 
were dominated from this term. Among others was 
a city in Laconia ; and another in Mysia, which Steph- 
anus st^des a city of Aeolia. They were undoubtedly 
so named from the worship of the serpent, Pitan : and 
had probably Dracontia, Avhere Avere figures and de- 
vices relative to the religion which prevailed. Ovid 
mentions the latter city, and has some allusions to 
its ancient history, when he describes Medea as fl}^- 
ing through the air from Attica to Colchis. The city 
was situated upon the river Eva or Evan, which the 
Greeks rendered Evenus. It is remarkable, that the 
Opici, who are said to have been denominated from 



88 Tlic Serpent Mound. 

serpents, had also the name of Pitanatae : at least 
one part of that family were so called. Pitanatae is 
a term of the same purport as Opici and relates to 
the votaries of P'tan, the serpent Deity, which was 
adored by that people. Menelaus was of old styled 
Pitanates, as Ave learn from Hesychius: and the rea- 
son of it may be known from his being a Spartan, by 
which was intimated one of the serpentigenae, or 
Ophites. Hence he was represented with a serpent 
for a device upon his shield. It is said that a brigade, 
or portion of infantry, was among some of the Greeks 
named Pitanates; and the soldiers, in consequence of 
it, must have been termed Pitanatae : undoubtedly, 
because they had the Pitan, or serpent, for their 
standard. Analogous to this, among other nations, 
there were soldiers called Draconarii. I believe, that 
in most countries the military standard was an em- 
blem of the Deity there worshipped. 

^'From what has been said, I hope, that I have 
thrown some light upon the history of this primitive 
idolatr3^: and have moreover shown, that wherever 
any of these Ophite colonies settled, they left behind 
from their rites and institutes, as well as from the 
names, Avhicli the}^ bequeathed to places, ample memo- 
rials, by which they may be clearly traced out. It 
may seem strange tliat in the first ages there should 



The i^^erpent Mound. 89 

have been such a universal deflection from the truth ; 
and above all things such a propensity to this par- 
ticular mode of worship, this mj^sterious attachment 
to the serpent. What is scarce credible, it obtained 
among Christians; and one of the most. early heresies 
in the church was of this sort, introduced by a sect, 
called by Epiphanius Ophitae, by Clemens of Alex- 
andria Ophiani. They are particularly described by 
Tertullian, whose account of them is well worth our 
notice. In this account we see plainly the perverse- 
ness of human wit, which deviates so industriously; 
and is ever after employed in finding expedients to 
countenance error, and render apostasy plausible. It 
would be a noble undertaking, and very edifying in 
its consequences, if some person of true learning, and 
a deep insight into antiquity, would go through with 
the history of the serpent. I have adopted it as far 
as it relates to my system, which is, in some degree, 
illustrated by it." — Thus Bryant. 

REV. DEANE'S THEORY. 

Following the extended account of Jacob Bryant 
we close our examination of the leading authorities on 
the Serpent Mound and the Serpent Worship by a 
copious reference to a most interesting work on 'The 
Worship of the Serpent," traced throughout the world 



90 The Serpent Mound. 

by Rev. John B. Deane of Cambridge University, Eng- 
land. This Avork was published in London in 1833. 
The author is a strictly orthodox theologian and 
writes this book to "attest the temptation and fall of 
man by the instrumentality of a serpent tempter." 
Dr. Deane attempts to establish by the testimony of 
heathen authorities the credibility of the Biblical ac- 
count of the temptation of Adam and Eve in Paradise 
through the agency of Satan^, who, he believes, liter- 
ally assumed the form of a serpent. The argument 
of his treatise is that the Creator made the first, and 
only original pair, Adam and Eve. From them de- 
scended all other races, peoples and nations. The 
knowledge of the temptation of the parent pair and 
the important role in that awful event enacted by the 
serpent was an historical fact handed down from gen- 
eration to generation and as the race separated and 
became different, nations scattered in diverse parts of 
the world — each distinct branch preserved and cher- 
ished the tradition of the fall of man through the ser- 
pent, and the serpent was ever a god for good or evil 
to be propitiated by worship. Serpent worship was 
therefore universal. Ophiolatreia or Ophiolatry "ex- 
isted in almost every considerable country of the an- 
cient world,'' and all traditions of the serpent and 
forms of his worship must have had a common origin. 



The Serpent Mound. 91 

"The most ancient record containing this basis, is the 
Book Genesis, composed by Moses, which book there- 
fore contains the history upon Avhich the fables, rites 
and superstitions of the mythological serpent are 
founded." Mr. Deane clearly- and with painstaking 
detail maintains the worship of the serpent com- 
menced in Chaldea in the astronomy of which country 
and also of Cliina authentic record of seri)ent wor- 
ship is to be found. But this worship is also found 
in countries ''where Chinese wisdom never penetrated 
and where Chaldean philosophy was feebly reflected." 
Indeed the author claims the serpent worship ad- 
vanced from "Paradise to Peru.'' Mr. Deane then 
takes up in turn each countr}^ in which the serjjent 
worship Avas found, traces its origin and histor^^, cit- 
ing and often quoting the early authorities and sacred 
books that sustain his argument. In his most schol- 
arly and informing book he traces the serpent worship 
through Babylonia, Assyria, Persia, Hindustan, Cey- 
lon, China, Japan, Phoenicia, Java, Arabia, Syria, 
Asia, Scythia, the Pacific Islands, Egypt, Ethiopia, 
Abyssinia, Congo, Greece, Espirus, Thrace, Italy, 
Sarmatia, Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland, Gaul, Brit- 
tany, Mexico, and Peru. He examines all the lead- 
ing fables illustrative of the Fall of Man and the par- 
ticipation of the serpent therein; the legends of the 



92 The Serpent Mound, 

earlj natives as well as tlieir forms of serpent wor- 
ship. He describes the serpent temples of the various 
countries Avhere they existed, and finally he recounts 
the decline and extinction of the serpent worship. 

Dr. Deane concludes that the serpent worship 
was the only universal idolatry and that it preceded 
Polytheism ; that the serpent was the most ancient of 
heathen gods, ''and that as his attributes were multi- 
plied by superstitious devotion, Avhose names were in- 
vented to represent the new personifications which, 
in the progress of time, divided the unity, destroyed 
the integrit}^ of the original worship. Yet each of 
these prehistoric superstitions bore some faint trace 
of its draconic (draco, Latin for dragon or serpent) 
origin, in retaining the symbolical serpent. Some of 
these deifications nuiy be easily traced, though others 
are obscure and difficult." 

Such in brief is the summary of the subject of 
Serpent Worship by Kev. John B. Deane. He does 
not touch upon the American Mound Builders. But 
the writings of Bryant, Fergusson, Forlong, Deane 
and many others on the universalit}^ of serpent wor- 
ship leads to an almost inevitable logic that the Great 
Serpent is surely tlie proof and manifestation that the 
Mound Builders were serpent worshippers and this 



The Serpent Mound. OS 

j>Teat earth relic was their idol or temple for that 
worship. 

CURIOUS THEORIES. 

This subject, in connection with the Serpent 
Mound, has its amusing and ridiculous features. 
Manj^ curious and fantastic ideas are put forth con- 
cerning the Great Serpent; for example one writer 
holds that this Serpent Mound was in the midst of the 
Garden of Eden, which is thus located in Adams 
County, Ohio, instead of on the banks of the Eu- 
phrates (?). We reproduce the Garden of Eden fancy 
from the publication of the Ohio State Archaeological 
and Historical Society. 

THE SERPENT MOUND, THE HOME OF ADAM AND EVE. 

Here is food for the "higher critics," the Egyptol- 
ogists, archaeologists and the Biblical students of all 
classes. The Garden of Eden, it seems, is now 
definitely located. The site is in Ohio, "Adams" 
County, to be more precise. The discoverer is the 
Kev. Mr. Landon West of Pleasant Hill, Ohio. 

The famous Serpent Mound of Ohio is the key to 
tlie whole discoverey, according to Mr. West, whose 
account Avas published in the New York Her- 
ald. No object that has ever been discovered pos- 



94 The Serpent Mound. 

sesses for achaeologists such intense and varied inter- 
est as this curious earthwork. Since 1849, when it 
was first accurately surveyed by Messrs. Squier and 
Davis, it has been a niecca of archaeologists from all 
parts of the world. Volumes have been written about 
it, and every theory conceivable by the mind of man 
has been advanced as to the purpose of the vast work. 
Now, it has a new and vivid interest. 

It has been called a shrine and an altar, a ceme- 
tery and a place for worship, it has been shown to be 
an idol and a place where human beings were sacri- 
ficed — all to the perfect satisfaction of the learned 
persons making the various guesses. 

The character of this mound is so unique and 
totally different from any of the other remains of 
earthworks left by the so-called Mound Builders that 
every utterance made in relation to it instantly at- 
tracts the notice of the scholars. Professor Putnam 
of Harvard University prepared an exhaustive ac- 
count of the mound and gave his theory as to its sig- 
nificance. It was through his efforts that the mound 
was saved from total destruction. In 1887 he visited 
it for the first time and was powerfully impressed 
with its tremendous significance. He impressed the 
college authorities with the value of the mound, and 
later it passed into the possession of the college. 



The ISerpent Mound. 95 

Later, in 1889, it was formally presented by Harvard 
college to the State Archaeological and Historical So- 
ciety of Ohio. 

Professor Putnam conducted extensive explora- 
tions in the hope of learning the true character and 
significance of the work and made examinations which 
revealed something of the great age of the mound. 
It was held by some that undoubtedly it was old be- 
fore the Chinese wall was built, and that it was fin- 
ished and disintegrating when the children of Israel 
slaved in Egypt. It is also probable, judging from 
the condition of the soil that covers the figure, that it 
was part of the "things universal" that were over- 
whelmed by the flood. 

The PiCv. Landon West of Pleasant Hill, Ohio, a 
prominent and widely known minister of the Baptist 
church, has just outlined a theory concerning the cre- 
ation and significance of the mound widely different 
from all those of the scientists. He believes that the 
mound itself was created by the hand of the Creator 
of the World, and that it marks the site of the Garden 
of Eden. He believes that the mound is purely sym- 
bolical and has no significance relative to the religion 
or worship of any race of men, but it intended to 
teach by object lesson the fall of man and the conse- 
quences of sin in the Garden of Eden. 



96 The Serpent Mound. 

The Kev. Mr. West was born and lived to man- 
hood near the mound. Early in life he conceived the 
idea that the mound was not an object of worship nor 
a place of sacrifice, nor for interment, nor yet a spot 
where the tribes of the earth came together to discuss 
the affairs of the primitive nations. He conceived it 
to be a mighty object lesson to give expression to some 
great event that had occurred in the history of man- 
kind. If intended for an object lesson, its meaning 
was too plain and palpable for discussion or argu- 
ment. Plainly it was meant to illustrate the "first 
sad event" in the Garden of Eden, the deception of 
the woman by the serpent, and the man's subsequent 
expulsion from the Garden and all the attendant ills 
of sin, pain and death. All of these, he maintains, 
are adequately expressed by this Serpent Mound. 

The jaws of the serpent are wide open, as if in the 
act of swallowing the oval-shaped fruit there situ- 
ated. The Rev. Mr. West declares that it represents 
the fruit Avith which Satan beguiled and tempted 
Eve. It is a very good representation of a gigantic 
plum or lemon or some such fruit as grows upon a 
tree. The Bible refers to the fruit of the tree with 
which Satan, that old serpent, did tempt Eve by tell- 
ing her it was good to eat. How could this very idea 
and circumstances of deception be better represented 



The Serpent Mound. 97 

on the part of the serpent, inquires this scholar, than 
to show it in the act of itself eating fruit, when it is 
well known that serpents do not eat fruit? The Rev. 
Mr. West maintains that the situation of this oval 
objects, which scientists term an altar, at the wide 
open jaws of the serpent would appear to deny their 
claim that it is an altar. Keason indicates a contrary 
theory ; that the open jaws were meant to betray the 
purpose of the serpent to swallow the fruit. Else 
why should the jaws be open? The only meaning of 
the open jaws, he asserts, is to show the intention of 
the serpent to swallow the fruit. This portion of the 
mound represents the deception; the writhings and 
twisting of the body indicate the pangs of death and 
physical suffering. 

It would seem that this perplexing and mysteri- 
ous image was created to express an idea, and is, 
therefore, purely symbolical. What it symbolizes can 
be surmised only from the image itself and any sup- 
porting history that may be found. If it be conceded 
that the serpent mound is symbolical of man's fall in 
the Garden of Eden, and the Rev. Mr. West after 
years of study, is confident that it expresses no other 
lesson, then the question arises, how did this prehis- 
toric race obtain knowledge of that event? 

7 



98 TliG Serpent Mound. 

The Key. Mr. AVest arrives at the conclusion that 
this threat work av':is created either by God himself or 
by man inspired by Him to make an everlasting ob- 
ject lesson of man's disobedience, Satan's perfidy and 
the results of sin and death. In support of this 
startling claim the Rev. Mr. West quotes Scripture 
raid refers to Job 16 :13 : ^^By His spirit He hath gar- 
nished the heavens ; His hand hath formed the crooked 
serpent." 

He also applies the discoveries of Professor Put- 
n:im to establish his theory. Professor Putnam 
learned that the depth of soil on the image was equal 
to that covering the surrounding country and was of 
similar properties and composition. This important 
discovery justified the statement that the work itself 
had been created prior to the formation of the soil 
V, luch now covers the earth. This discovery, hoAvever, 
by no means fixes the time of tiie serpent's creation. 
It merely establishes the fact that the soil covering 
the image had never been disturbed by the hand of 
nmn. The tremendous ridge which constitutes the 
superstructure, if it may be so called, must have been 
formed long before the beginning of the slow process 
of the soil formation by nature in her never ending 
task of creatipn. 



The l:^erpent Mound. 99 

The noble dimensions and perfect proportions of 
this majestic figure suggest to his mind the hand and 
intelligence of a divine Creator with limitless re- 
sources. It is on a high ridge or rocky cliff that 
thrusts itself into the peaceful and lovely valley like 
the prow of some mighty ship into a calm sea. The 
ridge points to the north and extends back into a 
smiling land suggestive of peace, happiness and se- 
curity. The head of the serpent lies upon the point 
of rock and the winding coils of the body reach back 
a thousand feet to the south, where the tail terminates 
in coils thrice repeated. The oval object, representa- 
tive of the forbidden fruit, is a hundred feet long and 
has a depression in the center. The size of the jaws 
is proportionate to the size of the figure, exact as in 
nature, which has been ascertained by measurements 
of living serpents. The surrounding country is beau- 
tiful be^^ond description. Rich valleys stretch away 
beside three shining streams, which converge near tlie 
great serpent. These three streams are interpreted 
as typical of the Holy Trinity — Father, Son and 
Holy Spirit. 

The image portrays the deception in the attitude 
of the serpent in the act of eating fruit ; pain and 
death are shown by the convolutions of the serpent, 
just as the living animal woruld pDrtray pain and 



100 The Serpent Mound, 

death's agony. The third chapter of Genesis is the 
only written history the world has of the fall of man 
and the cause that brought about his ruin. There are 
other references to it in the pro^jhecies and revela- 
tions and all of these accounts agree and compare in 
a singularly close way, this student says, with the 
lesson imparted by the great serpent. That this re- 
markable conformity could have been effected by be- 
ings ignorant of the great lessons actually symbolized, 
Mr. West holds, is ridiculous. That the image ante- 
dates the arrival on this continent of any European 
discoverer who could have brought the story of the 
creation and of man's fall is likewise an assured fact, 
he declares. 

After many years he learned that the Bible no- 
where says that the Garden of Eden was located in 
Asia, and that its statements will not conflict with 
the theory that the Garden was actually in the West- 
ern hemisphere. The events of Eden occurred at a 
very earh^ time in tlie history of the world, long before 
the time described by any historian. Moses is the 
only writer of history who described the Garden of 
Eden and the events that occurred therein. The time 
when he wrote was 2,500 years after the creation. He 
received this information from no written word, but 
from the inspiration of the Lord. No man was alive 



The Serpent Mound. 101 

who knew it before Moses. The Rev. Mr. West af- 
firms it to be his belief that the figure of the serpent 
was drawn bj the hand of the Creator, and that 
America is, in fact, the land in which Eden was lo- 
cated. Note Genesis 2:8; II Kings 19 :12 ; Ezekiel 
27:23, 31:8, and 29:18. 

A curious and not unimportant consideration in 
connection with the mound is the fact that a crook 
was made in the northern line in the county contain- 
ing the figure in order that the entire work might be 
contained within the county, which was established 
in 1790. 

This figure, says Rev. Mr. West, is the most 
ancient record of history known to exist. It shows 
first sin and its immediate results as Moses also re- 
cords them, and up to the time of the flood, which oc- 
curred in the year of the world 1655, it gave an actual 
object lesson and record of Eden and its events. But 
after the flood and until Moses, in the year 2500. the 
record of the creation, of the fall of man, of death, 
and of the flood, as well as of all other events retained 
till now of the history of the world, was taught and 
obtained only by tradition. Yet during all that time 
this perfect illustration of thought and of history 
was in existence, created beyond doubt to portray the 
one sad event to mark the spot where God's Word 



102 The Serpent Mound. 

and that form of teaching were first given to the 
human family. All that Job says of the event he 
learned by tradition, and no less than 2500 years after 
its occurrence. 

All that education, science, history, revelation 
and act can do to illustrate the thoughts of intelligent 
beings either on earth or in heaven has not been found 
to excel in clearness this serpent image in setting 
forth the one event in Eden's garden. 

This serpent figure was made long before the 
first copy of God's book was printed, yet it supports 
the written or inspired history of the human race. 
Will any one say that those who designed the serpent 
mound did not have in mind the event of sin and 
death as it occurred in the Garden of Eden? 

Prof. J. P. MacLean, author of many books and 
formerly secretary of the Western Reserve Historical 
Society, in his book on ''The ]Mound Builders," gives 
a condensed description of Serpent Mound, concern- 
ing which he claims to have made the discovery that 
upon the immediate brow of the cliff and in front of 
the egg or oval there is another animal mound in the 
form of a frog. His theory is that the frog has just 
laid the egg which is dropping into the mouth of the 
serpent, while the frog is about to leap from the cliff 
to tlie abvss beh)w. His account is as follows: 



The Serpent Mound. 



103 



"The most noted of all tins class of remains is 
the Great Serpent, located on entry 1010, Bratain 
Township, Adams Conntj, Ohio. It occupies the 
entire summit of a crescent tongue of land, ris- 
ing- about one hundred feet above Brush Creek, 



^i»iisliilii9 




iM 'lean's figure of the serpent .mound. 



which washes it base. We have here a series of effigy 
works, consisting of a frog, an egg, and a serpent. 
The extreme point of the spur is perpendicular, rising 
forty feet. The face of the rock on the summit is de- 
nuded. Thirty feet from the point of rock the head of 
the frog begins. This effigy, from its nose to the joint 



104 The Serpent Mound. 

formed b}^ the joining of the hind legs, is thirty-five 
feet. The head is down, the fore legs extended, the 
hind legs pointing back as though it was in the act of 
leaping. Partially between the legs is an oval mass 
of earth one hundred and thirteen feet long by fifty 
feet broad. In the center is a low mound fifteen feet 
in diameter. The opposite end of the egg extends into 
the distended jaws of the serpent. The serpent's 
head is seventy feet long and the neck seventy-five feet, 
and the entire length eleven hundred and sixteen feet. 
The serpent conforms itself to the shape of the hill, its 
body winding back, forming seven graceful curves, 
and terminating on the main land in a triple coil. The 
middle of the serpent is about fifteen feet lower than 
the head, and about twenty longer than the tail coil. 
On either side of the jaws extend two triangular ele- 
vations, as though intended for Avings. Both the egg 
and the serpent's head are hollow. The structure 
contains more or less stone which has been revealed by 
the plow\ The whole figure represents a serpent un- 
coiling itself on the mainland, and gliding towards ix 
frog sitting upon the point of the spur, and just as it 
is in the act of seizing it, the frog leaps, ejecting an 
egg into the serpent's mouth. Shall we infer that 
here is a representation of phallic worship — the frog 



The Serpent Mound. 105 

representing the creative, the egg the productive, and 
the serpent the destructive powers of nature?" 

HISTORY OF THE ACQUISITION OF SERPENT MOUND BY 

THE OHIO STATE ARCH/EOLOQICAL AND 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

The Serpent Mound was first prominently 
brought before the notice of the public by Messrs. 
Squier and Davis, who "discovered'' the serpent dur- 
ing their archaeological explorations of the remains 
of the Mound Builders in the Ohio and Mississippi 
Valleys. This was about the year 1846. They found 
the mound in a very neglected condition, the young 
growth of forest and underbrush nearly obscuring 
the form and structure of the mound. They made a 
clearing sufficient to make some sort of a survey, 
which, however, has since proven to be incomplete and 
inaccurate. They published in their report to the 
United States Government, printed in 1848, a descrip- 
tion of the mound, with a plate which is reproduced 
in this pamphlet. The description is also reprinted 
in these pages. Thirteen or fourteen years after the 
visit of Squier and Davis, a windstorm swept over the 
serpent hill, tearing up the trees and doing much dam- 
age to the serpent. This was followed by a clearing 



106 The Serpent Mound, 

of the land and the serpent was more or less muti- 
lated by the cultivators of the soil. Subsequently na- 
ture, through the regrowth of trees and settling of sod, 
endeavored to repair some of the damage. 

Prof. Frederick W. Putnam, Chief of the Eth- 
nological and Archaeological Department of the Pea- 
body Museum, Cambridge, Mass., became much inter- 
ested in this mound, and in 1883, in company with 
four fellow-archaeologists visited the mound, finding 
it in a very neglected and deplorable condition. He 
appreciated its value, realized that it was the greatest 
specimen of its kind in the United States and per- 
haps in the world. The mound upon which it is situ- 
ated was then the property of Mr. Lovett. Prof. Put- 
nam returned to Boston v. ith the enthusiastic purpose 
of securing funds for the purchase and restoration of 
the serpent. He brought it to the attention of people 
whom he thought would be interested in liis purpose. 
In 1885 he again visited the serpent, finding its de- 
struction would be inevitable unless immediate 
measures Avere taken for its preservation. He secured 
a contract with the land-ov ner, that it should not be 
further disturbed for at least one year; also getting 
an option upon some 65 or TO acres including and 
surrounding the Serpent Mound. Again returning 
to Boston, he secured the interest of ]\r'ss Alice C. 



The Serpent Mound. 107 

Fletcher, a wealthy lady interested in archaeology. 
Miss Fletcher, through her efforts and those of Prof. 
Putnam, assisted also by Mr. Francis Parkman, the 
distinguished x\merican historian, and Mr. Martin 
Brimmer of the Corporation of Harvard University, 
gathered a fund of nearly f6000, with which Prof. 
Putnam purchased the property, the title being placed 
in the name of the Trustees of the Peabody Museum, 
Cambridge. These trustees were Prof. Asa Gray, Dr. 
Henry Wheatland, Hon. Theodore Lyman, Hon. Geo. 
F. Hoar, Francis C. Lowell and Prof. F. W. Putnam. 
Following this purchase, in 1886, Prof. Putnam with 
a corps of assistants spent portions of the three suc- 
cessive summers in exploring the surroundings of the 
mound, excavating various portions of it and the 
mounds, village and cemetery sites in its immediate 
vicinity, and in laying out the grounds thereabouts 
so as to form what would be a park or resort grounds 
for visitors and students. This was done at an ex- 
pense of several thousand dollars in addition to the 
cost of the purchase, the additional funds being also 
raised through the agency of Prof. Putnam. Prof. 
Putnam also, through the assistance of Mr. M. C. 
Reed of Hudson, secured the passage of an act by the 
legislature of Ohio to exempt the property from tax- 
ation and put it under the special protection of the 



108 The Serpent Mound. 

laws of the state. This was the first law passed by 
any legislative body for the protection of archaeolog'.c 
remains in the United States. Many have since been 
passed by other states and by congress. The proper- 
ty was placed under the protection of one of the neigh- 
boring farmers who acted as warden for it. Thus 
matters stood for four or five years, during which time 
the Serpent Mound and park received slight care and 
protection, owing to the fact that the proprietor, the 
Peabody Museum, was so far distant that its officers 
could not give it the proper attention. In the Spring 
of 1894 the Secretary of the Ohio State Archaeolog- 
ical and Historical Society (Mr. Ivandall) brought the 
condition of the park to the attention of Prof. Putnam 
and suggested the idea that its proper owner and pro- 
tector should be the Ohio society. This matter flnall}^ 
met with the approval of Prof. Putnam, who, during 
his visit to Columbus at the conventiou of the Ameri- 
can Association for the Advancement of Science 
(August, 1899), stated to Prof. W. C. Mills, curator 
of the Ohio society that if the society would accept, 
repair and suitably preserve and care for the property, 
he would advise the Trustees of the Peabody Museum 
to transfer the property as proposed. In 1900 the 
Secretary of the Ohio State Archaeological and His- 
torical Society presented the matter to the Joint 



Tlic t^crpcnt Mound. 109 

Finance Committee of the Seventy-fourth General As- 
sembly. That committee recommended to the legis- 
lature an appropriation for the repair and care of 
Serpent Mound, whicli appropriation was subsequent- 
ly made. In the meantime, the Trustees of the Pea- 
body Museum had transferred the title of the Serpent 
Mound and Park to the President and Fellows of the 
Harvard College. In accordance with the action of 
the legislature, Prof. Putnam brought the matter be- 
fore the officers of Harvard College, who, after due 
consideration, voted to transfer the property to the 
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. 
This transfer was perfected and the deed was ac- 
knowledged on the 8th day of October, 1900. The 
deed recites : ^'That this conveyance is upon the con- 
dition that the grantee corporation shall provide for 
the perpetual care of the Serpent Mound, and upon 
the further condition that the grantee corporation 
shall keep the Serpent Mound Park as a free public 
park forever, and the non-fulfillment or breach of said 
condition or either of them, shall work as a forfeiture 
of the estate hereby conveyed and revest the same in 
the grantor and its successors. And upon the further 
conditions that the grantee Society shall place and 
maintain in the park a suitable monument or tablet 
upon which shall be inscribed the record of the preser- 



110 The Serpent Mound. 

vation of the Serpent Mound and the transfer of the 
property to the State Society." 

The Ohio society, the State of Ohio, and indeed 
all students of archaeology throughout the world are 
therefore mainly indebted to the enthusiastic, schol- 
arly and indefatigible efforts of Prof. F. W. Putnam. 
Without his persistent and self-sacrificing work in 
this matter, Serpent Mound would probably have 
passed out of existence. 

The Ohio society has thus far more than faith- 
fully carried out the conditions of the transfer of this 
property. They have completely restored the park 
and serpent, have built a comfortable house upon the 
grounds near the serpent for the residence of the Sup- 
erintendent of the grounds, Mr. Daniel Wallace, a 
most competent and faithful official. The society also 
erected upon the mound, just south of the serpent, a 
beautiful marble monument commemorative of the 
discovery of the mound by Squier and Davis, its sub- 
sequent restoration by Prof. Putnam and its transfer 
by Harvard Universit^^ to the Ohio State Archae- 
ological and Historical Society. Concerning the erec- 
tion of this monument, Secretary Randall wrote in 
the editorial department of the society's quarterly for 
April, 1902, as follows: 

On January 9, last^ 1902, the Secretary of the 



The Serpent Mound. Ill 

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society 
journeyed to the Mound, and was present to witness 
the erection of the tablet in the Mound Park, placed 
in accordance with the provisions of the deed trans- 
ferring the Mound to the Society. The site selected 
for the monument was the summit of the circular pre- 
historic mound which is located on the highest eleva- 
tion of the park, and is about 300 feet south of the 
coiled tail of the great serpent. The mound is some 
ten feet high, conical in shape. The monument con- 
sists of a granite base some five feet by two. The 
tablet, like the base, is of the best quality of Barre 
Granite, a handsome grey granite from Vermont. 
The tablet is about six feet high, two feet thick, and 
four feet broad. The lettered side is polished like a 
marble surface, and the inscription which is neatly 
cut into the surface in large Roman letters, reads as 
follows : 

THE SERPENT MOUND PARK. 

The Serpent Mound was first described by Squier and Davis in 
"Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," 1848, 

Saved" from destruction in 1885 by ' 

FREDERICK WARD PUTNAM 

Professor of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard 
University. 



112 The Serpent Mound. 

The Land included in the Park was secured 

by subscription obtained by ladies of Boston in 1887, when it was 

deeded to the Trustees of 

The Peabody Museum, of Harvard University, Cambridge, 

Massachusetts. 

Exempted from taxation by Act of Legislature of Ohio in 

Transferred by Harvard University, May 1900, to 

Ohio State Archaeological and Historical 

Society for perpetual care as a 

Free Public Park. 



It was a clear but bleak midwinter day, and 
standing upon the lofty plateau we could see across 
the vallej^ for miles to the hazy hills of Highland 
County, one of the most picturesque scenes in South- 
ern Ohio. There were no formal ceremonies. The 
workmen tugged at the great granite slab while Mr. 
Daniel Wallace, the custodian of the park, and the 
Secretary of the Society the writer herewith, ''stood 
around" and gazed at the landscape or the curious 
coils of the great earthen snake, the most mysterious 
and interesting relic of the Mound Builders either in 
the Ohio or the Mississippi Valley. Occasionally 
some visiting stranger or passing traveler would 
drive into the Park, look attentively at the weird and 
inexplicable serpentine structure with aU the awe and 



The Serpent Mound. 113 

amazement with which one could contemplate the 
Sphinx of Sahara, ask a few questions that nothing 
short of inspiration could answer, and then like the 
Arab with folded tent, silenth^ "move off/' 

It was some seventeen years ago that Prof. F. 
W. Putnam of Harvard, visited the mound for the 
first time; obsei*ving the ravages age and neglect were 
making with this most valuable archaeological relic, 
he returned to Boston and wrote a letter to the Bos- 
ton Herald, which was widely copied by the press, 
setting forth the value and condition of the serpent. 
Miss Alice Fletcher, a Avell-known Indian enthusiast, 
brought the matter before leading ladies of Boston at 
a lunch party given in Newport. The result was the 
issuing of a little circular, the assistance of Mr. Fran- 
cis Parkman, the great historian, and Mr. Martin 
Brimmer, the raising of some six thousand dollars and 
the purchase and presentation of the mound to, and 
its placement in the hands of the Trustees of the 
Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Eth- 
nology. Some eight thousand dollars in all were ex- 
pended upon the purchase and repair of this mound 
before it passed into the hands of the Ohio State 
Archaeological and Historical Society, through the 
suggestion and influence of Prof. F. W. Putnam. 
Surely not only Ohio and the Historical Society, 



114 ' The i:^erpent Mound. 

but the students of Archaeology and Ethnology 
throughout the country are to be congratulated that 
the great and unique remains of a bygone race are to 
be carefully preserved to students of the present and 
future. Hundreds of visitors resort to it each year, 
not alone from neighboring localities, but from all 
over the country, and indeed from countries beyond 
the seas. Scholars and curiosity seekers from the 
dominion of the ^'Old World" make pilgrimage to this 
wonderful structure, that was probably erected gen- 
erations, perhaps centuries, before Columbus discov- 
ered the Western Continent. 

SERPENT MOUNDS IN CANADA. 

What is claimed to be a fine specimen of a ser- 
pent mound exists upon the brow of an elevation lo- 
cated on Mizang's Point, near the mouth of the Indian 
River, on the north shore of Rice Lake, about ten 
miles southeast of Peterboro, in the Province of On- 
tario and not far from the city of Toronto. The 
mound is named the Otonabee Serpent Mound be- 
cause it is located in the township of Otonabee. Prof. 
David Boyle, the Curator of the Ontario Archae- 
ological Museum, Department of Education, Toronto, 
Canada, in one of his annual reports describes this 
mound: "The situation is one of the most command- 



The Serpent Mound. 115 

ing on the shore, the land rising with a sharp acclivity 
to a height of not less than seventy or eighty feet 
from the water. On the very crest of this point lies 
an embankment nearly two hundred feet in length, 
in a generall}^ easterly and westerly direction, one end 
pointing a few degrees north of east and in line with 
an oval mound twenty-three feet distant, the longer 
axis of which measures fifty feet and the shorter axis 
thirty-seven feet." 



fMm 



OTONABEE SERPENT MOUND, CANADA. 



The serpent mound itself is one hundred and 
eighty-nine feet in length, with an average breadth at 
the base of twenty-four feet and an average height of 
five feet. The breadth of the head is thirty feet nine 
inches, the height four feet six inches. The accom- 
panying cut, taken from the report of Prof. Boyle, 
will give a clearer idea of the proportions and shape 
of the serpent than any lengthy description. Prof. 
Boyle, with other archaeologists, hiid bare a section 
of the oval mound and found eight feet from the north 
edge and two feet below the surface, tAvo human 



116 The Serpent Mound. 

skeletons in a sitting position, and about the same 
distance from the south side were a skull and some 
of the larger bones of the arms and legs — these were 
also within two feet of the surface, but somewhat 
more than twelve inches higher, measuring from the 
general level. In another part of the mound were 
found a human skull, some dog or wolf teeth, the jaw 
of a small quadruped, small pieces of mussell shells 
and charcoal, and also a human skeleton lying on its 
right side. Prof. Boyle then concludes: "While 
there was no doubt that the remains found in the first 
cut were those of intrusive or comparatively recent 
burial, it seems quite clear that the bones here found 
on the base level had been so placed before the con- 
struction of the mound, and it appears probable that 
the same holds good in relation to the isolated skull 
found only a little more than a few feet away.'' 

These discoveries in the oval mound determined 
in the mind of Prof. Boyle the fact that both the oval 
and the serpentine structure were artificial mounds, 
the work of human hands and evidently intended to 
represent the oft-repeated combination of the egg and 
the snake. 

Says Prof. Boyle : "On the identification of this 
earthwork as a serpent mound, it will be readily 
understood that more than ordinarv interest became 



The iSerpent Mound. 117 

connected with every one of its details. Unlike the 
Scottish one on Loch Nell, in Argvleshire, and the 
Adams County one in Ohio, the head of the Otonabee 
serpent points in an easterly direction. It differs 
from both also in the number of its convolutions 
which exceed those of the Scottish mound, and are 
less than those of the Ohio one, the former having 
only two, giving the work an S-like look, and the lat- 
ter (Ohio) having seven. The position of the oval 
mound, too, at once suggested the ancient combina- 
tion of the serpent and the eg^, and here we are 
tempted to institute a comparison with the Adams 
County example, quite to the advantage of the Otona- 
bee structures, for while the oval on the head of the 
former (Ohio) consists of an embankment enclosing a 
basin, the Otonabee is a solid structure throughout. 
'Mr. Boyle made an incision into the body of the ser- 
pent itself some seventy feet from the end of the tail. 
We "ive the result of his own words : "I had a cut 
made five feet wide, extending from the north side to 
the middle of the bank, which is here twenty-four feet 
across the mase, simply to examine the interior nature 
of the structure, the surface of which was here some- 
what stony, a fact that no doubt counts for its hither- 
to non-disturbance by white savages, some of wliom 
are said to have searched (very stupidly) for hidden 



118 Tlie tSerpent Mound. 

treasure, and not for bones. Human bones were ex- 
posed within two feet of the surface, but like those 
of the egg" mound, all much decayed. Some of the 
holders taken from this cut were all that a man could 
lift, but many of them did not weigh more than from 
ten to twenty or thirty pounds each. The placing of 
the earth was numifestly done by hand, la^^ers and 
patches of dark soil being mingled with yellow clay; 
beyond this there was nothing to indicate man's 
agency, but the proof yielded was ample. A slight 
examination was made at the head of the mound, the 
result being th;it to show here also comparatively 
recent burials had been made, but lower than eighteen 
inches from the surface there was no sign of bones.'' 
Prof. Bo^^le decides this serpent was a rattle- 
snake and that it was made by the Indians. "With re- 
gard to serpents, (drawings, incisings, or effigies of 
which are found at wide intervals over the greater 
part of North America), it has been observed that in 
nearly every instance the model was a rattlesnake. 
Both, or either, of the extremities may aid in this 
identification. Unfortunately the outline of the 
Otonabee Serpent's head is not sufficienth^ sharp to 
assist us, but the great length of the tail portion (all 
behind the last bend), was intended, we may suppose, 
to include a rattle. Indeed, there is a very slight 



The IScrpciit Mound . 119 

bend about midway in this portion, wliicli may liav«? 
meant to mark the feature in question. Imagination 
may run riot in attempting to account for the origin 
and purpose of such earthworks. With regard to the 
Otonabee Serpent and Egg only two things are cer- 
tain, namely, that the embankments are of human 
workmanship, and that they were made by a people — 
Indians of course — prior to the arrival here of the 
Huron-Iroquois. Of what stock these people were we 
have no knowledge. A lingering fondness for such 
structures among some tribes of Ojibwa origin, until 
very recently, regarded as an evidence of heredity, 
might warrant us in attributing to some old-time Al- 
gonkins the making of these mounds. However this 
may be, our chief source of wonder is connected with 
the ideas that were entertained by the Mound Builders 
in fashioning such serpent-and-egg embankments. It 
has been well observed respecting the similarities ex- 
isting among primitive folk everywhere in the shap- 
ing of their weapons, and the tenor of their myths, 
that, given corresponding environments, human na- 
ture being the same all over the world, is bound to 
manifest itself along certain fixed lines. In a gen- 
eral wa}' it is easy to concede this proposition, but in 
a case like the one before us there is a difficulty. We 
may fully admit the probabilities favoring the re- 



120 The .Serpent Mound. 

spect paid by early man to the serpent on the one 
hand, and to the egg on the other, in connection with 
the great mystery of life, the latter symbolizing its 
origin, and the former, on account of its periodical 
skin-shedding, being suggestive of rejuvenescence and 
perpetuity — hence of eternity, but it is not so easy 
to account for the coupling of these symbols, by peo- 
ples widely separated in point of time, as well as of 
distance." 

THE SERPENT OF LOCH NELL. 

We have stated that the Great Serpent in Adams 
County is the largest and best preserved efftgy relic 
of the Mound Builders, certainly in the United States 
and probably in the whole world. It has, however, a 
counterpart in the Old World. In Great Britain, as 
is well known, there are frequent remains of a race 
of people similar to, if not identical with, the Mound 
Builders of America. Their European relics, how- 
ever, are mostl}^ of stone, seldom purely of earth. In 
Scotland there is a very remarkable and distinct ser- 
pent, constructed of stone. This work has so much in 
common with the Ohio serpent that we produce the 
description of it as given by Miss Gordon Cummin in 
''Good ^Vords" for March, 1872. We also reproduce 
a cut of the Serpent of Loch Nell, showing its great 
resemblance to the Ohio Serpent. 



The Serpent Mound. 121 

"The mound is situated upon a grassy plain. The 
tail of the serpent rests near the shore of Loch Nell, 
and the mound gradually rises seventeen to twenty 
feet in height and is continued for three hundred feet, 
"forming a double curve like the letter ^S,' and won- 
derfully perfect in anatomical outline. This we per- 
ceive the more perfect on reaching the head, which 
lies at the western end. . . . The head forms a 
circular cairn, on which, at the time of Mr. Phen^'s 
first (1871) visit (several years previous), there still 
remained some trace of an altar, which has since 
wholly disappeared, thanks to the cattle and herd 
boys." Mr. Phene excavated the circular cairn, or 
circle of stones, forming the head, and although it had 
been previously disturbed, he found "three large 
stones forming a megalithic chamber, which contained 
burnt bones, charcoal, and burnt hazel-nuts," and an 
implement of flint was also found during the excava- 
tion. "On removing the peat-moss and heather from 
the ridge of the serpent's back, it was found that the 
whole length of the spine was carefully constructed, 
with regularly and symmetrically placed stones, at 

such angles as to throw off the rain The 

spine is, in fact, a long narrow causeway made of 
large stones, set like the vertebrae of some huge ani- 
mal. They form a ridge, sloping off at each side. 



122 The Serpent Mound. 

wliicli is continued downward with an arrangement 
of smaller stones suggestive of ribs. The mound has 
been formed in such a position that the worshipers, 
standing at the altar, would naturally look eastward, 
directly along the whole length of the great reptile, 
and across the dark lake to the triple peaks of Ben 
Cruachan. This position must have been carefully 
selected, as from no other point are the three peaks 
visible.'' 

General Forlong, in commenting on this, says : 
^Here, then, we have an earth-formed snake, 
emerging in the usual manner from dark water, at the 
base, as it were, of a triple con6, — Scotland's Mount 
Hermon, — just as we so frequently meet snakes and 
their shrines in the East.' 

"Is there not something more than mere coinci- 
dence in the resemblance between the Loch Nell and 
the Ohio serpent, to say nothing of the topography of 
their respective situations? Each has the head point- 
ing west, and each terminates with a circular en- 
closure, containing an altar, from which looking 
along the most prominent portion of the serpent, the 
rising sun may be seen. If the serpent of Scotland 
is the symbol of an ancient faith, surely that of Ohio 
is the same." 



Tlie (Serpent Mound. 



123 



The following- poem by Prof. Blackie accompa- 
nies the description of the Loch Nell Serpent by Miss 
Cummin : 

Why lies this mighty serpent here, 

Let him who kuoweth tell — 
With its head to the land and its huge tail near 

The shore of the fair Loch Nell? 




THE STONE SERPENT OF LOCH NELL. 



Why lies it here? — not here alone, 
But far to East and West 

The wonder-working snake is known, 
A mighty god confessed. 

Where Ganga scoops his sacred bed, 
And rolls his blissful flood, 

Above Trimurti's threefold head 
The serpent swells his hood. 



124 The ^Serpent Mound. 

And where the procreant might of Nile, 

Impregned the seedful rood, 
Enshrined with cat and crocodile 

The holy serpent stood. 

And when o'er Tiber's yellow foam 

The hot sirocca blew, 
And smote the languid sons of Rome 

With fever's yellow hue, 

Then forth from Esculapius' shrine 

The Pontiff's arm revealed, 
In folded coils, the snake divine, 

And all the sick were healed. 

And Wisest Greece the virtue knew 
Of the bright and scaly twine, 

When winged snakes the chariot drew 
From Dame Dememter's shrine. 

And Maenad maids, with festive sound. 

Did keep the night awake. 
When with three feet they beat the ground, 

And hymned the Bacchic snake. 

And west, far west, beyond the seas, 
Beyond Tezcuco's lake, 



The Serpent Mound. 125 

In lands where gold grows thick as peas, 
Was known this holy snake. 

And here the mighty god was known 

In Europe's early morn, 
In view of Cruachan's triple cone, 

Before John Bull was born. 

And worship knew of Celtic ground, 
With trumpets, drums and bugles, 

Before a trace in Lorn was found 
Of Campbells or Macdougalls. 

And here the serpent lies in pride 

His hoary tale to tell, 
And rears his mighty head beside 

The shore of fair Loch Nell. 




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